How we configured Odoo 17 to release a 160-item BOM in stages — with multiple material issues inside each stage — instead of waiting for everything to land.
That was the real question from an Indian Railways electrical contractor whose Odoo 17 manufacturing setup we built at Arsenal ITC.
Their product is assembled in stages — mechanical work first, then electrical, then final assembly. Mechanical needs only a small slice of those 160 components. But the textbook ERP rule is all-or-nothing: don’t release the manufacturing order until the full BOM is available.
So the floor is left with two bad options — wait weeks on a handful of long-lead electrical items, or start anyway and track the gap on spreadsheets. Neither holds up when you supply Indian Railways and need clean traceability on every order.
How we set it up in Odoo 17
Instead of forcing the work to wait on the software, we configured Odoo to mirror how the work actually happens on the floor:
- Multi-level BOM, not one flat 160-line list. We split the master BOM into stage-aligned sub-assemblies — mechanical, electrical, assembly — each with its own BOM and its own manufacturing order. Production releases stage by stage instead of as one blocked MO.
- Multiple material issues within each stage. Material isn’t issued once at release. Components are issued against an operation as they arrive, so a stage can begin on what’s in stock and draw the rest in further issues — no waiting for the stage to be 100% kitted.
- Operations mapped to work centers via routing. Each MO’s work orders are sequenced across the mechanical, electrical and assembly work centers, so the floor starts and reports progress only on operations that are actually ready.
- Make-to-Order + reordering rules on long-lead items. The electrical components that drive the delay sit on MTO/replenishment routes, so procurement triggers up front while mechanical work proceeds — the parts arrive against their stage, not against the whole order.
- True order status, end to end. The order reads “in progress — downstream material pending” instead of sitting blocked or going dark on a side spreadsheet. Costing and traceability stay intact across all three stages.
The result: mechanical work starts on day one, electrical and assembly draw their components as they land, material issue stays accurate, and traceability holds across the full railways supply chain.
If your production starts before every BOM line is in stock, you don’t need an off-system workaround — you need the system structured to handle it. Talk to Arsenal ITC about your Odoo manufacturing setup.