Odoo 20 Manufacturing: Continuous Production and More

Manufacturing got a lot of attention in Odoo 20. Some changes are new capabilities. Others simplify how operators record production, which affects training and any custom code on the shop floor.

New ways to plan and run production

• Continuous production. For processes that run continuously rather than as one order after another.
• Manufacturing order Kanban view. Move orders through stages visually.
• Split manufacturing orders. Break a large MO into smaller ones.
• Backorder planning.
• Manufacturing orders planned as soon as possible.
• Draft vs confirmed manufacturing orders, and reset MO to draft.
• Work orders in blocked work centres are now visible, so planners can see what's waiting.
• Work centre overview and new work order views.

For planners, the MO Kanban and split orders are the practical wins. Continuous production is the one to test carefully, because it changes the shape of the process rather than just the screen.

Recording production is simpler

• "Produce" and "Produce All" are replaced by a single Produce button
• Flexible consumption is now the default. The setting is removed.
• Generate lots and serials when closing MOs
• Put in pack from the MO
• Component replacement during production
• Lot/serial number transfers

The flexible consumption change matters. If you relied on strict consumption to stop operators using more material than the BOM says, review how that's controlled now. Check variance and scrap reporting after the upgrade.

Costing

• MO cost improvements
• Subcontracting reception valuation, plus a subcontracting MO
• Work and manufacturing order reporting

Shop floor

• Work centre barcode for fast switching between work centres
• HTML note field and instruction updates for operators
• A Shop Floor demo sheet to help with training

Quality, maintenance and PLM

• Quality: bypass quality checks (with control), and failure location recording
• Maintenance: Gantt views for requests, maintenance teams on stages, a new status widget
• PLM: BoM comparison, optional ECO version updates, product updates and a universal ECO report

BoM comparison is a small feature that saves a lot of time during engineering changes.

Industry note

The construction-related setups were renamed: "Construction Builder" is now General Contractor, and "Construction Developer" is now Property Developer, which uses standard Manufacturing and Inventory features.

What to test before upgrading

1. Record a full MO the way operators actually do it, with the new Produce button
2. Check consumption behaviour on BOMs where you relied on strict consumption
3. Retest lot and serial generation at MO close
4. Compare MO costs on a few recent orders between old and test databases
5. Retest any custom shop-floor screens or tablet flows

For the basics of setting up manufacturing, see the Odoo manufacturing guide. Our Odoo manufacturing service handles upgrades too.