In Odoo MRP we can easily plan the production of our products based on time and quantity. To achieve this it is important to take into consideration some settings and modules.

First, we need to have installed the modules Inventory and Manufacturing.

In this case, I will show you how to use the production planning feature when a dye is involved in the production process, I will start with the minimum requirements to achieve it and then I will add complexity with some of the most required necessities. 

After downloading the modules we need to go to Settings > Manufacturing > And activate “Work Orders” and “By Products”

Then we need to create the work centers, for this go to App Manufacturing > Configuration > Work Centers > New (Work Center configuration is out of the scope of this forum post, however Setup time and Cleanup time directly affect total production time and subsequently, production order planning)

Then we need to configure our final product, for this go to APP Manufacturing > Products > Products > New, the setting for the product may vary depending on business necessity, in this example we are planning production of a storable product, main configuration should be the “Product Type” as storable and in the Inventory tab > Routes > Manufacture.

The components of the product do not need to have the route “Manufacture” checked.

When creating the dye make sure Product Type is set to “Storable Product”

In the final product create Bill of Materials and add the dye as a component.

In the Operations tab add all the operations to create the product, for planning it is important to input an expected duration, the duration computation can be adjusted based on the business needs.

Finally, in the By-product tab make sure to add the dye as a byproduct produced in the final operation, this will let us plan production more accurately.

When creating a new manufacturing order add the product and Bill of Materials to be used, select the date and hour to be produced and confirm the order. Odoo will automatically reserve the existing quantities of the components to the first confirmed order. 

It is important to click the “Plan” button after confirming a manufacturing order, furthermore, you can create many orders that use the same dye and when in the list view select all of them and click on the “Plan” button 

By doing this and going into the “Planning” menu you can select to see the production planned by order or by workcenter.

For this example the view by production and by work center contemplates employees work hours, work center capacities, efficiency and available working hours.

2 and 3 steps 

When using dyes in 2 or 3 steps in manufacturing additional configuration is needed, we need to enable “Multi-steps routes” in the Settings application under the Inventory menu in the Warehouse section. 

Additionally it is important to set the configuration of 2 or 3 steps according to the necessities of your company, this can be done by accessing the Inventory Application > Configuration > Warehouses > Inside the warehouse you use to manufacture > Select the type of manufacturing 

When using 2 or 3 steps in manufacturing Odoo takes into account the time to process the internal transfer, in either the picking or the packing. Odoo checks if it has the availability of all components to start the first operation (this may vary depending on your configuration, could be until all components are ready). 

When having multi-step routes enabled, after creating a MO in the By products tab the dye takes the same route as the final product, to change the storage location just enter the registry of the line and change that location.

A pop-up window will appear where you can change the storage location 

*Note: by doing this you are bypassing the packing operation and just sending the by-product to the desired location