Work Orders and Work Center Management in Odoo

Work Orders in Odoo Manufacturing

A Work Order represents a specific production step that must be completed to manufacture a product.

Work Orders are created when:

  • A Bill of Materials (BOM) contains operations, and

  • A Manufacturing Order (MO) is confirmed.

Each operation in the BOM generates one work order.


Key Features of Work Orders

Operation-Based Production

Each manufacturing step is defined as an Operation, such as:

  • Cutting

  • Welding

  • Assembly

  • Packaging

These operations become work orders.


Real-Time Shop Floor Control

Operators can:

  • Start / Pause / Finish work

  • Record production time

  • Log scrap and rework

  • Track progress live

Using Tablet / Shop Floor View, production teams can work easily.


Time Tracking

Odoo records:

  • Expected time (planned)

  • Actual time (real)

  • Setup and teardown time

This helps analyze productivity.


Quality & Scrap Integration

From work orders, users can:

  • Trigger quality checks

  • Register scrap

  • Report defects

Integrated with Quality Module.


Work Center Management in Odoo

A Work Center is a physical or logical production unit where operations are performed.

Examples:

  • CNC Machine

  • Assembly Line

  • Painting Booth

  • Testing Lab


Work Center Configuration

You can define:

Capacity & Efficiency

  • Capacity: Number of units produced simultaneously

  • Efficiency: Performance factor (e.g., 90%)

Affects production planning.


Costing

Each work center has:

  • Cost per hour

  • Setup cost

  • Employee cost

  • Machine cost

Used in:

  • Product costing

  • Margin analysis


Working Calendar

Each work center follows:

  • Shifts

  • Breaks

  • Holidays

Helps in realistic scheduling.


Maintenance Integration

Work centers connect with:

  • Preventive maintenance

  • Breakdown management

  • MTBF / MTTR tracking

Using Maintenance Module.


Relationship: BOM → Operations → Work Orders → Work Centers

Workflow:

Bill of Materials

Operations (in BOM)

Manufacturing Order

Work Orders Created

Executed at Work Centers
Example:

BOM for “Office Chair”:

OperationWork CenterDuration
CuttingCNC Machine20 min
AssemblyAssembly Line45 min
PaintingPaint Booth30 min
PackagingPacking Station15 min

When MO is confirmed → 4 Work Orders created.