Bill of Materials (BOM)

A Bill of Materials is the recipe for a finished product — every component, quantity and unit of measure needed to build one unit. Every manufactured product needs an accurate BOM before a Manufacturing Order can be planned correctly. Typically owned by the production planner or a process/manufacturing engineer.

1.1 Process flow

1. Create a BOM for the finished product, selecting the product it applies to.
2. Add each component with its required quantity and unit of measure.
3. Add the operations/routing the product passes through, if manufacturing involves multiple work centres (see Section 3).
4. Set the BOM type — a standard manufacturing BOM, or a kit (components delivered together without a separate production step).
5. Publish/activate the BOM once reviewed — this is what Manufacturing Orders will reference.

1.2 Key fields to know

Manufacturing Orders

A Manufacturing Order (MO) is what actually turns a BOM into a real production run — a specific quantity of a specific product, scheduled for a specific date, consuming real components from real stock. Typically created by the production planner and executed by the shop floor.

2.1 Process flow

1. Create a Manufacturing Order — manually, or automatically from a sales order (make-to-order) or a reordering rule (make-to-stock; see Section 7).
2. Odoo pulls in the relevant BOM and calculates the components and quantities required.
3. Check component availability — Odoo flags whether everything needed is in stock or still incoming.
4. Reserve components and confirm the order to release it to the shop floor.
5. Work orders are generated automatically if the BOM has operations/routing (see Sections 3–4).
6. Once production is complete, record the actual quantity produced and any component consumption that differed from plan.
7. Mark the Manufacturing Order done — this posts the finished goods into stock and consumes the components from inventory.

2.2 Key fields to know

Work centres & routing

A work centre is a physical or logical production station — a machine, an assembly line, a packing bench. Routing is the sequence of work centres a product passes through during production. This is usually configured once by a production engineer or administrator, but shop-floor supervisors need to understand the sequence their team works within.

3.1 How it’s structured

• A work centre has a capacity, an hourly cost, and optionally alternative work centres that can substitute for it if busy.
• A routing is the ordered list of operations (e.g. Cutting → Assembly → Packing), each assigned to a work centre.
• Routings are attached to a BOM’s Operations tab — this is what turns a simple BOM into a multi-step production process.
• Each operation carries an expected duration, used both for shop-floor scheduling and for costing the labour/machine time into the product’s cost.

3.2 What shop-floor supervisors need to know

1. Understand the routing sequence for each product line — it determines which work centre picks up the job next.
2. Flag capacity bottlenecks (a work centre consistently running behind) to the planner rather than working around the routing informally.
3. Confirm alternative work centres are used correctly when the primary one is down or fully booked, so costing and scheduling stay accurate.

Work orders

A work order is the actual task list at a single work centre for a single Manufacturing Order — one is generated per operation in the routing. This is what machine operators and shop-floor staff interact with day to day.

4.1 Process flow

1. A work order appears in the queue for its assigned work centre once the Manufacturing Order is confirmed and its turn in the routing arrives.
2. The operator opens the work order (often via a shop-floor tablet) and starts the timer.
3. Instructions, quality checkpoints (see Section 5), and any linked documents or work instructions are shown alongside the task.
4. The operator completes the operation and marks the work order done, which records the actual time taken.
5. The next work order in the routing becomes available at the following work centre.

4.2 Key fields to know

Quality checkpoints

Quality control points can be built directly into a routing, so a check happens automatically at the right work centre rather than relying on a separate inspection step. Configured by quality/process engineers, executed by shop-floor operators and QC personnel.

5.1 How it works

• A quality point is attached to a specific operation (work centre step) within a product’s routing.
• Checks can run on every unit, every Nth unit, or a random sample percentage — set according to the risk and cost of the check.
• Check types include pass/fail, a measured value against a tolerance range, a required photo, or simple written instructions to confirm.
• A failed check can be configured to block the work order from completing until resolved, which stops a defect from moving further down the line.

5.2 What operators and QC need to do

1. Complete the quality check exactly as prompted when it appears on the work order — don’t skip past it even if the item looks fine.
2. Record a genuine failure as a failure, not a pass with a note — this is what triggers the built-in stop and alert.
3. Escalate a failed check per the site’s quality procedure before continuing production on that batch.

Subcontracting

For SMEs that outsource part of production — a specific process step, or an entire sub-assembly — Odoo can track that work as a subcontracted operation, keeping stock and costs accurate even though a vendor is doing the physical work. Typically coordinated between the purchasing officer and production planner.

6.1 How it works

• A subcontracted BOM defines which operation, and which components, are handled by an external vendor rather than an internal work centre.
• A resupply route determines how components reach the subcontractor — either the SME ships raw materials out, or the subcontractor sources them independently.
• A dedicated subcontracting location tracks stock that is physically at the vendor’s site but still owned by the SME.
• The subcontracted operation is triggered by a purchase order for the subcontracted service, linked to the Manufacturing Order.

6.2 Process flow

1. Confirm the purchase order for the subcontracted operation with the vendor.
2. If components are supplied by the SME, ship them to the subcontracting location so stock reflects where they physically are.
3. Receive the finished or semi-finished goods back from the subcontractor — this automatically consumes the supplied components and receives the output into stock.
4. Reconcile the subcontractor’s bill against the purchase order, the same 3-way matching principle used for standard vendor bills.

MRP scheduling: make-to-order vs make-to-stock

Material Requirements Planning (MRP) is the engine that decides what needs to be produced or purchased, and when, based on actual and forecast demand. The core decision for each product is whether it’s made to order or made to stock. Typically owned by the production planner, with input from purchasing and sales.

7.1 The two strategies

7.2 How it’s configured

• The routing strategy (Manufacture, Buy, and optionally MTO) is set at the product level, and can be combined — e.g. Manufacture + MTO for a build-to-order item.
• MTS items rely on reordering rules with minimum/maximum quantities, the same mechanism covered in Inventory training.
• The MRP scheduler run reviews all demand — confirmed sales orders, forecasts, and reordering rules together — and proposes Manufacturing Orders and purchase orders to cover it.

7.3 What planners should review regularly

1. Run or review the scheduled MRP run and check proposed orders make sense before they’re confirmed, especially early after go-live.
2. Watch for products flagged Late — demand exists but supply won’t arrive in time — and decide whether to expedite or communicate a delay.
3. Revisit which products are MTO vs MTS periodically; a slow-moving item kept on MTS ties up capital in stock that MTO would avoid, while a fast, predictable seller kept on MTO risks late deliveries that MTS would prevent.

Quick reference

A.1 Menu paths at a glance

A.2 Who typically trains on what

For the roles who should be trained on Accounting and Inventory modules, see the companion training guides for those areas.