How to Set Up a Bill of Materials in Odoo
If you make things, the bill of materials is where manufacturing begins. It is the recipe that tells Odoo what goes into a product, and almost everything on the shop floor depends on getting it right. Continuing this series of practical Odoo how-to guides, here is the bill of materials.
What a bill of materials is
A bill of materials, or BoM, lists the components and quantities needed to make one unit of a product. When you manufacture, Odoo reads the BoM to know what to consume and what results. It is the single source of truth for how a product is built, which is why accuracy here matters so much.
Start with the finished product and its components
To create a BoM, you choose the product you are making and then list each component and how much of it goes in. Get the quantities right, because they drive stock consumption and costing. A BoM that says two when it means three quietly throws off your inventory and your margins every time you build.
Choose the right BoM type
Odoo supports different BoM types. A standard manufacturing BoM produces a product from components. A kit, by contrast, is a set of products sold together but not really “manufactured”. Choosing the right type matters, because it changes how Odoo handles stock and the sale. Pick the one that matches what you actually do.
Add operations if you track them
If you want to track the steps and work centers involved in making the product, you can add operations to the BoM. This connects to work orders and lets you see time and capacity. If you do not need that detail yet, you can keep the BoM simple and add operations later as your setup matures.
Keep BoMs accurate and controlled
A BoM is not set once and forgotten; products change. The important thing is to keep BoMs accurate and to manage changes in a controlled way rather than quietly editing them, so the shop floor always builds from the right version. Accuracy and control here protect quality and costing alike.
Practical tips
- List every component and get the quantities exactly right.
- Choose the correct BoM type: manufacturing versus a kit.
- Add operations and work centers only if you track that detail.
- Keep BoMs accurate as products evolve.
- Manage BoM changes in a controlled way, not by ad-hoc edits.
My take
The bill of materials is the foundation of everything in manufacturing, so care here pays off across stock, costing and production. Get the components and quantities right, pick the correct type, and keep it accurate and controlled, and the shop floor runs on reliable recipes. Rush the BoM and every build inherits the error, so it is worth doing properly.
Next in this series: how to set up your CRM pipeline.
Based on the official Odoo 19 bill of materials documentation. Setting up manufacturing? Get in touch.