Jeremy Lambert
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Cloud PLM in Autodesk Fusion enables teams with real-time collaboration, automated change processes, and streamlined workflows, all within a unified platform for smarter, faster product development.
In the fast-paced world of design and manufacturing, organizations need to streamline processes, enhance collaboration, and stay competitive. Now with Fusion’s integrated product lifecycle management (PLM) capabilities, teams can stay connected and work smarter and faster than ever before.
To boost competitive advantage, product companies need to work smarter—not just harder. That’s where Autodesk Fusion comes in. By bringing together CAD, CAM, CAE, and PCB design tools with built-in data management and integrated product lifecycle management (PLM), Fusion helps teams streamline workflows and collaborate more effectively.
But what really sets Fusion apart is its unified platform approach. Instead of juggling disconnected tools and data silos, everyone – from engineering to quality—can work from the same source of truth. That means fewer errors, faster decisions, and better outcomes.
With Fusion, your team always has access to the latest designs, accurate bills of materials (BOMs), and up-to-date product information. Whether you’re preparing for a design review or handing off to manufacturing, you can trust that the data is current and complete. In this post, we’ll explore the advantages of Fusion with integrated cloud PLM and highlight key capabilities.
Integrated cloud PLM with Fusion Manage Extension
Let’s face it—product development isn’t one-size-fits-all. Agile teams need flexibility, especially when it comes to how they manage approvals, track quality issues, and handle change. That’s why we’ve built PLM into Fusion in an integrated, more adaptable way than traditional ‘old iron’ PLM tools that, while offering a lot of power, are difficult to adapt to changing needs over time.
With Fusion Manage Extension, our approach to PLM is intentionally different. Getting started is simple. Fusion Manage Extension is available through subscription and is easy to implement. Requiring no initial setup, the PLM capabilities are lightweight and directly available from the Fusion experience, making it ideal for smaller agile teams to get started.
As companies grow, product lines expand, and more people are brought on, Fusion Manage Extension includes a fully configurable workflow engine, making it easy to adapt to meet evolving PLM needs over time without heavy customization. And it does all this without the high cost and expense of traditional PLM systems.
In short, with Fusion Manage Extension, it’s easy for agile teams to get started, move faster, make better decisions, and have the flexibility needed to support teams as they grow.
Key cloud PLM capabilities
Fusion Manage Extension gives your entire organization instant access to powerful processes and automations that help drive product development forward. Let’s take a look at a few of the standout capabilities:
Bill of materials (BOM) management
Fusion’s cloud BOM is at the center of the workflows within Fusion Manage Extension, enabling multiple departments to participate in processes, like reporting problems, requesting changes, and releasing new revisions. For instance, the quality team can quickly report design issues and request changes, while the engineering team can release new revisions based on updated supplier information.
With collaborative BOM and property editing, multiple users can make updates simultaneously. Everyone sees the changes as they happen, which means fewer delays and more informed decisions.
Manage Extension enhances Fusion’s BOM with additional tools to track and manage its lifecycle, including working, pending, and released BOMs. This provides users with the specific and timely BOM information they need at each step as it progresses through its lifecycle, helping improve efficiency and decision-making.
Configurable change and release management
Engineering changes can arise from various sources, such as design reviews or field quality issues. The Fusion Manage Extension streamlines change management by controlling revisions to components, drawings, and documents throughout the product lifecycle with tools like Problem Reports, Change Requests, and Change Orders.
These tools enable stakeholders to submit issues and requests efficiently, ensuring continuous feedback and real-time quality improvements. They also help teams understand the broader impact of changes on products, processes, and resources. The Change Order process manages implementation, tracks each workflow step, and maintains a detailed change log for full traceability.
Task management
Keeping projects moving forward takes more than just good intentions—it takes visibility, accountability, and the right tools. Fusion Manage Extension helps teams avoid bottlenecks and stay aligned with real-time task views that clearly show who’s responsible for what, and when it’s due.
Change tasks are a key capability in helping to drive change management processes to a close. The built-in task planning and scheduling help ensure that the right people are looped in at the right time—whether it’s for an action, a review, or an approval.
And no one’s left guessing. Real-time alerts keep everyone informed of newly assigned tasks, almost due, late, or escalated tasks, approval, changes, and more. Notifications are smartly configured to highlight what’s relevant, so your team can focus on what matters most.
The Fusion difference with cloud PLM
Traditional PLM tools have served large companies well for decades, but they weren’t built for the speed, flexibility, and collaboration that today’s teams demand. That’s why we’ve taken a different approach—integrating PLM directly into Fusion to help teams move faster, stay aligned, and bring better products to market.
Throughout this post, we’ve explored how Fusion cloud PLM empowers teams with BOM management, configurable release and change processes, and task management. From agile change management and collaborative BOM editing to automated task tracking and insightful reporting, Fusion is designed to simplify the complex and keep your projects on track.
Whether you’re managing a product launch or iterating on a new design, Fusion gives you the tools to focus on what matters most—building great products. And as Fusion continues to evolve, we’re excited to help you unlock even more value from your product development process.