Often small manufacturing and specialty companies require MRP to fully realize inventory controls and consumption.  However, now more than ever manufacturers are engaging in specialized one-off or low-volume projects that span a single MRP Order over several weeks’ or months’ time.  These operations are difficult to manage within Odoo, as the built-in Manufacturing Order system is typically visualized within "a single day".

As such, Traction Consulting Group has expanded the standard Manufacturing Order system with a custom add-on module that transforms unique BOM Operations into Tasks, allowing for assignment of resources to operations based on specific skills required for a particular operation, and offers ongoing capacity planning and scheduling of resources via Gantt Charts, leveraging the built-in Work Schedule system within the Employees module to better schedule orders while considering employee time off and vacation time.

Key Learnings:

a) Provide for tracking of projects and resource effort over a long period of time - from several days to several months

b) Align operations of the order to specific skill sets, such that only available resources (both by skill and by availability) can be assigned to specific operations

c) Identify capacity planning issues as resources are given time off, and as new projects enter the manufacturing process

d) Ensure proper lead times and customer communications based on existing and remaining workloads

Target Audience:

- Manufacturers who have to utilize an outside project planner like Microsoft Project or Excel to manage Manufacturing Orders

- Manufacturers who have specialty skill sets for Resources, and want to automate the assignment process for Work Orders

- Manufacturers who would like basic Capacity Planning capability of resources without requiring excessive Project Management of said resources