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Arbortext vs Epicor PLM

Last Updated: November 18th, 2024

Our analysts compared Arbortext vs Epicor PLM based on data from our 400+ point analysis of PLM Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Overview Pricing Benefits & Features Analyst Ratings Comparison Charts User Ratings Analyst Summary Screenshots

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Product Basics

PTC Arbortext is an end-to-end publishing and content authoring solution designed to help manufacturing organizations streamline the delivery of technical publications. It allows users to maintain a digital thread of dynamic data to boost consistency with real-time synchronization and a single source of data truth.

Users can create high-quality content by writing XML documents and creating stylesheets, complete with 2D and 3D illustrations. Automation capabilities include auto-generating content, automating publishing, formatting and printing. It also supports multi-channel delivery and multi-language formatting.

Epicor PLM is a software solution designed to streamline the entire lifecycle of a product, from conception to manufacturing and beyond. It caters to mid-sized and upper mid-sized manufacturers, providing them with a centralized platform to manage product data, CAD designs, and technical documents.

This translates into several benefits, including improved collaboration between engineering, design, and manufacturing teams. Streamlined change control processes help ensure everyone is working on the latest version of a product. Additionally, Epicor PLM integrates seamlessly with Epicor ERP (formerly Kinetic), creating a unified system for product development and enterprise resource planning.

When compared to similar PLM products, user experience highlights of Epicor PLM include its ease of use and intuitive interface. Furthermore, its tight integration with Epicor ERP is a major advantage for manufacturers who already use that system.

Pricing for Epicor PLM is typically based on a per-user, per-year subscription model, with costs varying depending on the specific features and functionality required.

Pros

Easy use
Central data
Change control
ERP integration
Collaboration

Cons

Customization cost
Limited integrations
Scalability concerns
Learning curve
Subscription cost

$700/Seat, One-Time

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Tailored to your specific needs

$1,000 Monthly

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Tailored to your specific needs

Small

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Large

Small

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Large

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Chromebook

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Cloud

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Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation

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Live Online

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Knowledge Base

24/7 Live Support

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Product Insights

Improve Productivity: Save time with reusable XML component-based content and automated formatting. Minimize programming by creating, updating and simplifying stylesheet creation.
Simplify Content Management: Gain a single source of truth for all your technical documentation. Centralize stylesheets, layouts, formatting, and service and product information, eliminating scattered information and streamlining your content lifecycle.
Enhance Technical Content Quality: Deliver error-free documentation by enforcing stylesheets that automate information layout and delivery. Improve content reusability, enforce style guides and ensure regulatory compliance with approved information.
Increase Automation: Minimize manual tasks by automating publishing processes, formatting, layout tasks, and the delivery of multi-channel and multi-language service and product information.
Reduce Publishing Production Costs: Develop a single source for styling criteria and formats to eliminate disparities and rework from multiple stylesheets, languages and document types. Minimize the costs of distributing and printing paper copies of product information.

Improved Collaboration Across Teams: Break down departmental silos by providing a single platform for engineers, designers, and manufacturing personnel to access and share product data. This fosters better communication and avoids errors caused by working with outdated or conflicting information.
Streamlined Change Control Processes: Effectively manage revisions and modifications throughout the product lifecycle. Epicor PLM allows you to track changes, gain approvals, and ensure everyone is working on the latest version, preventing costly mistakes and delays caused by implementing unapproved changes.
Enhanced Product Quality and Consistency: Ensure consistent quality by establishing clear design specifications and revision control. Epicor PLM facilitates the creation and adherence to design standards, minimizing errors and ensuring all manufactured products meet the required specifications.
Reduced Time-to-Market: Shorten the time it takes to bring new products to market by streamlining development workflows. Centralized data access, automated processes, and improved collaboration all contribute to a faster and more efficient product development cycle.
Boosted Productivity and Efficiency: Free up valuable resources by eliminating time-consuming tasks like searching for documents or manually tracking revisions. Epicor PLM automates repetitive tasks and centralizes information, allowing teams to focus on higher-value activities.
Informed Decision-Making: Gain valuable insights into the product development process with improved data visibility. Epicor PLM provides centralized access to product data, allowing for informed decision-making throughout the lifecycle, from design choices to material selection.
Lower Overall Costs: Reduce waste and minimize errors through improved product data management. Epicor PLM helps to avoid costly mistakes caused by using outdated information or miscommunication between departments. Additionally, by streamlining processes, it can lead to reduced labor costs.

Content Creation: Use the editor to create standardized content for multiple media formats. Auto-generate text using language-specific collation rules. Incorporate editable, intelligent graphics and embed 2D and 3D animation or illustrations in web and interactive content.
Structured Editor: Simplify technical content creation with word-processing capabilities like change tracking, drag-and-drop editing and keyboard macros.
Real-time CAD Data: Gather and use real-time CAD data to develop illustrations and animations more quickly. Ensure product information and graphics are accurate with IsoDraw’s ability to update objects and change specifications throughout the production cycle. Create output in multiple data formats including raster graphics, 2D, 3D and animations.
Automated Document Creation: Automate formatting and document layouts prior to publication with the Advanced Print Publisher tool. Minimize time spent manually editing graphics, text and other features in formats including XML, JPG, GIF, CGM and SVG.
Stylesheet Creation: Create stylesheets with the styler tool, which allows users to develop a set of standards and rules across stylesheets. Ensure content and product quality and consistency along the product lifecycle in multiple layouts and languages.
Multichannel Content Delivery: Generate one or more different types of dynamic output simultaneously to multiple formats. Take single-source content and publish it across multiple channels.
Multi-Language Formatting: Export generated text as a separate file to translate and create multi-language stylesheets. Increase reusability by using multiple numbering schemes to meet regional numbering rules and mirroring page layout definitions for right-to-left languages.

Product Data Management (PDM): A central repository for storing and managing all product-related data, including CAD drawings, bills of materials (BOMs), and technical documents. This eliminates the need for scattered files and ensures everyone has access to the latest information.
Change Order Management: A streamlined process for tracking and managing revisions throughout the product lifecycle. This includes creating change requests, obtaining approvals, and automatically updating relevant documents like BOMs, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
Bill of Materials Management (BOM): Create, manage, and revise product structures with ease. Epicor PLM ensures BOMs are accurate and reflect the latest product configuration, which is crucial for accurate production planning and cost estimation.
CAD Integration: Seamless integration with popular CAD software allows for efficient data exchange between engineering and product lifecycle management teams. This eliminates the need for manual data entry and reduces the risk of errors.
Workflow Automation: Automate repetitive tasks such as document approvals, change notifications, and status updates. This frees up valuable time for teams to focus on more strategic activities.
Document Management: Securely store, manage, and control access to all product-related documents. Epicor PLM allows for version control and facilitates easy retrieval of past revisions, ensuring traceability and historical record-keeping.
ERP Integration (Epicor Kinetic): For companies using Epicor Kinetic ERP, Epicor PLM integrates seamlessly to create a unified system for product development and enterprise resource planning. This eliminates data silos and streamlines communication between departments.

Product Ranking

#9

among all
PLM Software

#53

among all
PLM Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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User Sentiment Summary

84%

of users recommend this product

Arbortext has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 84% when considering 26 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

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Awards

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Improved Collaboration: Foster seamless collaboration across engineering and design with manufacturing and marketing departments. The centralized platform eliminates information silos and ensures everyone has access to updated product data, reducing communication errors and delays.

Enhanced Product Quality: Facilitate a controlled and standardized approach to product development with features like change order tracking and revision control. Real-time updates ensure everyone is working on the latest version of product specifications, minimizing the risk of errors and improving overall product quality.

Streamlined Supply Chain Management: Integrate with supplier databases and other supply chain management tools to improve communication and coordination with suppliers, leading to more efficient procurement processes and faster time-to-market.

Centralized Data Management: Eliminates scattered files and ensures everyone has access to the latest product information, reducing errors and rework caused by outdated data.

Improved Collaboration: Breaks down departmental silos by providing a single platform for engineers, designers, and manufacturing to collaborate on product development, fostering better communication and streamlining workflows.

Streamlined Change Control: Tracks revisions and change orders efficiently, preventing costly mistakes caused by implementing unapproved modifications and ensuring everyone is working on the latest version of a product.

Enhanced Efficiency: Automates repetitive tasks and centralizes product information, freeing up valuable time for teams to focus on higher-value activities like design innovation.

Integration with ERP Systems (Epicor Kinetic): For companies using Epicor Kinetic ERP, Epicor PLM integrates seamlessly to create a unified system for product development and enterprise resource planning, eliminating data silos and improving communication across departments.

Complex Implementation: Implementing a PLM system can be complex and time-consuming. Businesses need to invest time in data migration, user training and system configuration to ensure a smooth transition.

High Initial Investment: The cost of PLM software is not as cheap as chips, especially for larger companies with complex product lifecycles. Licensing fees, implementation costs and ongoing maintenance charges can add up quickly.

Data Migration: Migrating existing product data from legacy systems to a new PLM platform opens a whole new can of worms. Incomplete or dirty data or inconsistent formatting can lead to problems down the road, so data quality and consistency require careful attention during migration.

Customization Cost: Extensive customization to fit unique workflows or complex product structures can be expensive, potentially outweighing the benefits for some users.

Limited Integrations: While it integrates well with Epicor ERP (formerly Kinetic), Epicor PLM's integrations with other business systems can be limited, creating challenges for companies reliant on third-party software.

Scalability Concerns: Some users with very large enterprises or intricate product lines report concerns about Epicor PLM's ability to handle the size and complexity of their data, potentially leading to performance issues.

Learning Curve: New users might find the initial setup and learning curve steeper compared to simpler PLM solutions, requiring additional investment in training and user support.

PTC Arbortext is a content authoring tool designed to streamline the creation, management and delivery of technical documentation. Its focus on reusability through XML components and automated formatting helps users save time and reduce errors. Additionally, it centralizes product information and enforces stylesheets to ensure consistency across various media formats.Beyond core content creation functionalities, it offers features like real-time CAD data integration, automated document creation and multi-channel content delivery. While pricing isn't publicly advertised, it likely follows a tiered licensing structure based on required features. Overall, it offers organizations an effective way to optimize technical content creation and delivery and maintain a digital thread.

Recent reviews of Epicor PLM highlight its strengths in centralizing product data and streamlining workflows, especially for users in complex manufacturing environments. One key advantage is its ability to manage revisions and modifications effectively, preventing costly errors caused by outdated information. This is particularly valuable in industries like aerospace, where even minor design tweaks can have significant consequences. However, some users with very large or intricate product lines mention concerns about scalability, suggesting Epicor PLM might be a better fit for mid-sized manufacturers. Another common theme in reviews is the ease of collaboration fostered by Epicor PLM. By providing a central platform for engineers, designers, and manufacturing personnel, it breaks down departmental silos and improves communication. This can significantly reduce rework caused by miscommunication or conflicting information. However, some users found the initial setup and learning curve steeper compared to simpler PLM solutions. This highlights the importance of considering the technical expertise of your team when choosing a PLM system. Overall, Epicor PLM appears to be a well-regarded solution for mid-sized manufacturers seeking to improve collaboration, manage complex product data, and streamline product development processes. However, its cost of customization and potential scalability limitations for very large enterprises are important factors to consider before implementation.

Screenshots

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FAQ

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