Shannon McGarry
Discover how closed-loop quality management connects non-conformance, CAPA, FMEA, and supplier actions into one system. Learn how Autodesk Fusion Manage helps manufacturers boost product quality, accelerate issue resolution, and ensure compliance and optimize designs for continuous improvement.
Manufacturers constantly struggle with disconnected quality systems, delayed information flow, slow reaction to non-conformance, and siloed corrective action tracking. This leads to repeated errors, high scrap rates, customer complaints, and auditing headaches – ultimately impacting costs, timelines, and customer trust. Traditional systems often fail to provide real-time visibility across teams, complicating root-cause analysis and delaying preventive action implementation.
Cloud-looped quality management
By closing the loop, organizations proactively ensure that quality learnings at any lifecycle stage are quickly fed back to product design, engineering, and suppliers. This reduces repeat defects, speeds up problem resolution, and improves cross-team collaboration, leading to:
- Minimized scrap and rework
- Faster, on-budget product launches
- Complete traceability and audit readiness
- Higher product and process reliability
- Enhanced customer satisfaction
Centralizing quality with PLM
Fusion Manage provides an integrated cloud PLM solution built for closed-loop quality management. It unites all the core processes—Non-Conformance Reports (NCR), Corrective and Preventive Actions (CAPA), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), and Supplier Corrective Action Requests (SCAR) – in a configurable, workflow-driven platform accessible to all stakeholders.
Addressing each process
- Non-Conformance (NCR): Centralizes identification and tracking of non-conforming products, enabling quicker analysis and initiation of corrective measures, with instant communication and traceability from discovery to disposition.
- CAPA: Connects quality incidents with corrective/preventive workflows. Fusion Manage automates task assignments, alerts, and documentation, delivering fast resolutions – making sure that no step falls through the cracks.
- FMEA: Enables engineering to routinely log potential failure modes and their downstream effects, store mitigation strategies, and link them to design changes for cross-functional review, leading to more robust product launches.
- SCAR: Integrates supplier action requests directly with engineering and purchasing. This supports rigorous root-cause investigation, collaborative action plans, and real-time supplier performance monitoring, all within the PLM ecosystem.
The true power for Fusion Manage for PLM
With its robust integration, open APIs, and cloud scalability, Fusion Manage delivers a future-proof closed-loop quality environment. Continuous improvement is baked into every stage – from design and engineering to supply chain and customer delivery.
- Unified data & visibility: Real-time dashboards, automated notifications, and digital traceability ensure teams act on accurate, up-to-date information.
- Seamless change management: Engineering Change Requests (ECR) can be triggered from any quality event, ensuring fixes are institutionalized and design records remain synchronized.
- Audit readiness: All actions, signatures, and outcomes are centrally recorded to meet compliance and audit requirements without manual effort.
- Collaboration: Embedded communication tools drive teamwork between quality, engineering, operations, and suppliers, accelerating improvement and fostering accountability.
- Scalable & configurable: Fusion Manage supports out-of-the-box (OOTB) and custom workflows for different product lines, regulatory environments, and operational models.
Companies like SwissDrones used Fusion Manage to maintain a complete digital twin of their aircraft, control design variants, and meet strict aviation compliance standards.
“To have a complete digital twin of the aircraft we need to show variant control. The PLM solution with the Autodesk Fusion Manage is at the heart of this process for us, and we are currently working on expanding it.”
—Pol-Victor Gisquet, Team Leader Mechanical Systems Integration and Aerospace Engineer, SwissDrones
Closed-loop quality management transforms the way manufacturing organizations prevent and respond to quality issues. When executed with Fusion Manage, you’ll see immediate improvements in operational efficiency, cost reduction, compliance, and customer satisfaction.