To outline the brief history of manufacturing, it began as a handmade process. The raw materials were processed by skilled labourers into useful products. There was minimal intervention of tools and mechanics. Basic tools and human labour were then used to produce products that were useful for the consumers, thereby increasing the value of the raw materials. The finished products are always sold at higher value than the sum of the raw materials considering the labour input.
In the nineteenth century, finished goods were more in demand with the growing consumers. This called for mass production. Hence production started to be mechanized. This reduced the labour investment and increased the goods produced. Mass production involved division of labour and mechanisation to increase the output from the labour. Assembly line manufacturing and industrial production increased geometrically with the industrial revolution. The concept of manufacturing and production changed drastically.
The need and demands keep growing with the growing population and changing socio-economic structures. The further the development, the more the demand. Improving the efficiency of the factories and production units is indispensable for the growth of a business. While mechanization was the first step to improving production efficiency, today the shift is towards automation.
Assembly line production
Most mass production units have shifted to assembly lines in their manufacturing process. This allows the manufacturers to produce the parts of the finished product in a predefined sequence and assemble them step by step to produce the final product. The process is one that has found appeal in many industries.
Production line
The production line on contrary to the assembly line does not involve the assembly of parts to form a new product, but rather packaging of raw material to finished goods. This is used commonly in food processing.
Today production has evolved so much to involve even quality checks, product life management, maintenance, and so on. The production units are improving their game everyday. More and more has been added to manufacturing and maintaining this system efficiency has its own struggles. Most companies automate the manufacturing unit to maintain the efficiency of the system.
Odoo Manufacturing
The Odoo manufacturing app manages the multiple functions of the manufacturing unit to ensure maximum customer satisfaction and hassle-free production. The app is integrated with the other units like
- Purchase
- PLM
- Maintenance and
- Quality
The manufacturing module has these add-on modules that improve the functionality.
Odoo Manufacturing module can work with a single manufacturing unit or multiple work centers. In the case of a single manufacturing unit, we can ensure the work centers are unchecked in the configuration and create a new manufacturing order.
Create Manufacturing Order
We can create a new order from the dashboard and edit the details of the order.
We can add the bill of materials from the existing list or create a new bill of material for the product. While creating, we can add the various components that are to be used for the manufacturing, along with the number of units. After assigning the responsible person and choosing the company(in case of multi-company). Creating an accurate Bill of Material smoothens the manufacturing process. It also ensures that the parts needed for assembly are available at the time of manufacturing.
Create Bill of Materials
The bill of materials can be created under the products menu. In the BoM menu, we can define the product, the variant, and the number of units. The BoM type can opt between Manufacture this product and Kit. The BoM type kit would split the products into the components while creating manufacturing order and during stock transfer.
Confirming an order
After the manufacturing order is confirmed, the order window will be updated to have the new options added.
We can check the availability of the various components and start the manufacturing accordingly.
If all the materials needed for the particular order are available we can start the manufacturing. In case of unavailable components, we can open the component details from the list and click on the product link to open the product window.
We can update the quantity of the product depending on the stock on hand. We can also replenish the product which would trigger a quotation, manufacturing order or a transfer, depending on the product configuration.
Once the materials are replenished and available for manufacturing, the manufacturing will be in progress. Depending on the units left to be produced, the order will be marked as In Progress. We can validate the quantity to be produced. Once the quantities to be produced are met, we can mark the order as done and this will close the order.
We can also scrap component products from the inventory in the order window.
Maintenance Request
We can directly create a maintenance request for the manufacturing order created. Both corrective and preventive maintenance can be created and assigned to a maintenance team. We can mark the priority of the maintenance request and schedule a date.
The scrap and maintenance requests for the order will be displayed in the tabs.
Manufacturing with work centers
If the manufacturing is done in more than one work center we can enable work orders in the configuration > settings.
Enable the work order and save the changes. We will get a work center link, where we can add the work centers. We can configure the details of the new work center like product information and cost information.
We can provide alternative work centers for the orders in case the work center is busy or occupied.
After the work centers are enabled, we will get an overview of the orders in each work center and we can also plan new orders for each center.
Once work centers are enabled, we can create new manufacturing orders from the operations drop-down menu.
Now that the manufacturing is done through work centers the process will be broken down to the work orders. The work orders tab of the manufacturing order window will have the option to add new operations and assign work centers for the same.
Additionally, we can create operations under configuration and choose from the list. This will automatically fill in the details of the work order as configured in the particular operation.
We can validate the order from the window to close the order. And in the case of the remaining products, we can create a backorder. The option will be available in the popup while we validate the order.
Save and Print
We can save as pdf and print the production order, product label (ZPL or PDF), and the cost analysis.
This is an overview of creating manufacturing orders with Odoo manufacturing. For more clarity and a detailed overview of the module, you can visit Cybrosys on Youtube.