Three-Step Warehouse Manufacturing Odoo 18

Furniture manufacturer producing wooden tables creates production chaos: raw materials taken directly from warehouse to production floor bypassing staging area causing production delays when components missing bolts discovered after transporting 50 planks to assembly station requiring return trip, finished products left on production floor 3 days occupying space preventing next batch start until manually moved to finished goods creating bottleneck, no cost tracking showing wooden table cost 280 dollars when actually 420 dollars from missed labor time allocation, accounting discovering 15K inventory discrepancy during month-end close investigating stock movements finding unrecorded component consumption, and quality issues shipping table with wrong wood finish because pre-production inspection skipped when materials rushed directly to assembly—generating production inefficiency space utilization problems cost inaccuracy accounting chaos and quality defects from single-step warehouse flow without structured component picking production separation and finished goods staging achieving poor manufacturing control.

Odoo 18 Three-Step Warehouse Manufacturing enables structured production through pick components transferring raw materials from stock to pre-production staging area, manufacture consuming components from production location tracking work center operations, store products moving finished goods from post-production to stock location, automated valuation creating journal entries for material consumption and production completion, work center costing calculating labor machine costs per operation, shop floor interface enabling touchscreen operation execution by production workers, real-time cost tracking showing material operational total costs dynamically, multi-location visibility tracking inventory across stock pre-production production post-production locations, and move history reporting complete stock movement audit trail—reducing production delays 60 percent through staged component preparation eliminating inventory discrepancies through automatic accounting integration achieving accurate product costing within 2 percent variance and enabling quality gates through location-based workflow control supporting scalable organized manufacturing operations through systematic three-step stock movement.

Three-Step Warehouse Flow

Understand the manufacturing workflow:

Flow Stages:

Prerequisites Configuration

Enable Inventory Settings:

1. Go to Inventory → Configuration → Settings
2. Enable settings:
   • Multi-Step Routes: Allows staged product movements
   • Storage Locations: Organizes warehouse into areas
3. Click Save

Enable Accounting Automation:

1. Go to Accounting → Configuration → Settings
2. Enable Automated Inventory Valuation
3. Click Save

Warehouse Configuration

Setting Three-Step Manufacturing:

1. Go to Inventory → Configuration → Warehouses
2. Open warehouse (e.g., Main Warehouse)
3. Scroll to Manufacturing section
4. Select: Manufacture in 3 steps: pick components manufacture then store products
5. Click Save

What This Creates:

Product Configuration

Creating Manufactured Product:

1. Go to Manufacturing → Products → Products
2. Click New
3. Configure:
   • Product Name: Wooden Table
   • Product Type: Storable Product (mandatory for inventory tracking)
4. Click Save
5. Open product again
6. Click Inventory tab
7. Select Routes: Manufacture
8. Click Save

Product Category Valuation:

Bill of Materials Setup

Creating BoM:

1. Go to Manufacturing → Products → Bill of Materials
2. Click New
3. Configure header:
   • Product: Wooden Table
   • BoM Type: Manufacture this Product
   • Quantity: 1

Components Tab:

Work Center Configuration

Creating Work Centers:

1. Go to Maintenance → Equipment → Work Centers
2. For each center click New

Example Work Centers:

Set Expense Account:

Operations Configuration

Adding Operations to BoM:

Creating Manufacturing Order

MO Creation:

1. Go to Manufacturing → Operations → Manufacturing Orders
2. Click New
3. Configure:
   • Product: Wooden Table
   • Quantity: 10 units
   • BoM auto-selected
   • Components list appears
   • Operations list appears
4. Click Confirm

Component Status After Confirmation:

Step 1 Pick Components

Validating Component Pick:

1. In MO click Transfers smart button
2. Picking transfer opens showing:
   • From: WH/Stock
   • To: WH/Pre-Production
   • Components with quantities
3. Click Moves tab to see detailed movement
4. Review quantities
5. Click Validate
6. Transfer status: Done

Result:

Step 2 Manufacturing Production

Shop Floor Interface:

1. In MO click Shop Floor smart button
2. Tablet-optimized interface opens
3. Select work center station
4. Click Confirm

Executing Operations:

Stock Movement During Production:

Step 3 Store Finished Products

Completing Manufacturing:

1. After all operations done click final Mark as Done
2. MO status changes to Done
3. Final transfer auto-created
4. Click Transfers smart button
5. New transfer shows:
   • From: WH/Post-Production
   • To: WH/Stock
   • Product: Wooden Table Quantity: 10
6. Click Product Moves tab to view movement
7. Click Validate

Result:

Product Moves Analysis

Complete movement trail:

Viewing All Moves:

1. In MO click Product Moves tab
2. View complete move history

Move Sequence:

Cost Tracking and Overview

Real-time production cost visibility:

Overview Tab Analysis:

Journal Entries

Automated accounting integration:

Viewing Accounting Entries:

1. Go to Accounting → Accounting → Journal Entries
2. Filter by date of manufacturing completion
3. Find entries related to MO

Entry Structure:

Move History Reporting

Complete audit trail:

Accessing Move History:

1. Go to Inventory → Reporting → Move History
2. Filter by reference (MO number)
3. View all movements for this manufacturing order

Best Practices

Validate Component Picks Before Starting Production to Prevent Shortages: Starting manufacturing with orange Available status equals production halt discovering missing components mid-operation. Worker begins cutting discovering only 3 of 4 planks staged stopping assembly waiting 2 hours for material. Always validate picking transfer confirming green Ready status before shop floor start eliminating production delays.

Configure Work Center Expense Accounts for Accurate Product Costing: Missing expense account equals labor costs excluded from product cost showing 118 dollars when actual 158 dollars causing pricing errors selling below cost. Configure expense account per work center capturing operational costs achieving accurate landed cost supporting profitable pricing decisions.

Use Shop Floor Interface for Real-Time Production Tracking and Cost Accuracy: Manual work order marking without time tracking equals estimated costs versus actuals. Cutting estimated 30 minutes actually takes 50 minutes causing 67 percent cost variance. Shop floor interface tracks precise durations calculating exact operational costs enabling actual versus estimated analysis identifying inefficiencies supporting continuous improvement.

Conclusion

Odoo 18 Three-Step Warehouse Manufacturing enables structured production through pick components manufacturing and store products workflow with multi-location tracking automated valuation work center costing shop floor interface and comprehensive move history. Reduce production delays 60 percent through staged component preparation eliminating inventory discrepancies through automatic accounting integration achieving accurate product costing within 2 percent variance enabling quality gates through location-based workflow supporting scalable organized manufacturing operations through systematic three-step stock movement creating complete audit trail for compliance and optimization supporting lean manufacturing principles through visibility and control achieving precision in complex production environments.