A small maker needs three things from a manufacturing system: a clear recipe for each product, a way to turn an order into steps people can follow, and stock that matches the shelf. Bills of materials, routing and work orders are the names for those three. Get them right and the rest follows.
The bill of materials is your recipe
A bill of materials, or BOM, lists what goes into one unit of a product: each raw material, and how much of it. It sounds simple, but most problems start here.
Keep these habits:
- One BOM per product version. If you change a component, change the BOM, so costs and stock follow.
- Include everything that is consumed, even small items like packaging or fasteners, or your stock will drift.
- Record waste honestly. If a cut always loses some material, say so, rather than hoping it averages out.
If your product has sub-assemblies, give each its own BOM and link them. A finished item can then draw on a sub-assembly that is itself made from raw material.
Routing: the steps and where they happen
Routing describes the operations needed to make the product, and where each takes place: cutting, welding, assembly, finishing, packing. For a small shop, keep it light. List the real steps in the real order, and the station or team that does each.
You do not need to model every motion. You need enough that a supervisor can see where a job is and what is holding it up.
Manufacturing orders and work orders
A manufacturing order says what to make and how many. When you confirm it, the system uses the BOM to work out what material is needed. A work order is one step of that order, taken from the routing, ready for someone on the shop floor to pick up.
The useful result is visibility. Anyone can see which orders are waiting for material, which are in progress and which are done. That replaces the whiteboard and the phone calls.
The shop floor has to use it
Systems fail in a workshop when entering data is harder than not entering it. Before you start, ask:
- Who starts and finishes each work order, and on what device?
- Is there a screen at each station, or does a supervisor update from a desk?
- What happens when a job is interrupted or reworked?
Choose the simplest option your team will actually follow. A supervisor updating at the end of each shift is better than a station screen nobody touches.
Stock accuracy decides whether any of it works
The BOM only helps if stock is right. When a manufacturing order is completed, the system takes raw material out and puts finished goods in. If receipts, issues and counts are not recorded as they happen, the numbers go wrong, and the next order plans against fiction.
Three habits keep stock honest:
- Receive raw material into the system the day it arrives.
- Count regularly and fix differences straight away, with a reason.
- Keep finished goods in a defined location until they ship.
Our post on why system and shelf stock disagree goes through this in more detail.
Start small
Do not try to model the whole plant on the first day. Pick one product family, build its BOMs and routing, run real orders for a few weeks, and fix what you learn. Then add the next family. Small makers who start with everything at once often stall.
Review the numbers weekly
Once orders flow, look at what was planned against what was used and made. Large gaps point to a wrong BOM, unrecorded waste or a step that takes longer than the routing says. Fix the recipe, not just the stock.
Where Teapot Techies fits
We set up Odoo for manufacturers, from manufacturing orders and work orders through stocking and delivery, starting from the standard manufacturing apps and adjusting them to your process. See our manufacturing industry page, or read about inventory on Odoo if stock accuracy is your first worry.