Knowing and planning the exact inventory level is of utmost importance for companies. Why? Because inventory has a direct impact on a company’s cash flow. If inventory is too high, the company has “dead capital”; if it is too low, production and sales are impacted in a negative way. Usually, the inventory is managed via the ERP system, and this is also the case in Odoo ERP.
Odoo is an open source ERP developed by the Belgian company Odoo S.A.. It covers various business areas, including sales, purchasing, warehouse management, production, accounting, human resources and much more. What makes Odoo special is that it offers a comprehensive suite of applications that are aligned and can be seamlessly integrated to create a complete ERP system. One of the crucial modules is the Inventory module, which helps companies manage their inventory efficiently. In this post, we’re going to take a comprehensive look at the features and applications of Odoo’s Inventory module.
Functionalities of Odoo Inventory
Warehouse management: The Inventory module enables companies to monitor, control and optimize their inventory levels. Information on products, locations and storage units can be entered and tracked.
Order management: Odoo Inventory facilitates the creation and management of purchase orders, whether for the purchase of raw materials or the sale of products. For example, order details, supplier information or the order status can be recorded.
Stock Transfer:Users can easily perform internal stock transfers between different locations and update inventory in real time.
Minimum stock and order suggestions:To ensure that stock levels never fall to a critical level, the module can automatically generate order suggestions when a minimum stock level is reached.
Product categories and attributes:In Odoo Inventory, products can be organized into categories and user-defined attributes can be added to efficiently organize and classify inventory.
Batch and serial number tracking: For industries where batch or serial numbers are key, the Inventory module provides a tracking functionality to ensure product traceability.
Barcode support: Odoo Inventory supports the use of barcodes to speed up the inventory process and minimize errors. In addition to the Inventory module, Odoo offers an integrated barcode app optimized for mobile devices.
Push and pull routes:Through customizable rules and routes, Odoo Inventory can automate and customize the movement of goods between warehouses and storage locations.
Picking strategies: By default, Odoo offers different picking strategies that can be defined at the storage location level, such as FIFO (First In First Out), LIFO (Last In First OUT), FEFO (First Expired First OUT) and shortest distance to storage location.
Inventory Valuation:The module allows the calculation of the cost and valuation of the inventory, based on FIFO (First In First Out), AVCO (Average Cost) or the maintained standard prices.
Multi-location management:For companies with multiple warehouse locations, Odoo Inventory enables efficient management of inventory in different locations and provides the ability to define and monitor warehouse locations on a fine-granular basis.
Multi-Company: With the multi-company setup, multiple business units with different warehouses can be managed within a single Odoo instance. It only takes one click to switch to another business unit. This ensures centralized control of all warehouses across all business units.
Integration with other modules:Odoo Inventory is seamlessly integrated with other Odoo modules such as Sales, Purchasing, Quality and Manufacturing to ensure a smooth flow of goods and efficient use of resources.
Reporting and analysis: Companies can use dashboards and reports to gain comprehensive insight into their warehouse activities. This allows trends to be detected and bottlenecks to be identified in order to make informed business decisions.
Conclusion
Odoo Inventory offers a comprehensive set of features to help companies efficiently manage their inventory. From basic management of products and orders to comprehensive reporting and analysis, this module provides everything needed to optimally manage inventory. Seamless integration with other Odoo modules makes it a valuable addition for any company looking for a comprehensive and integrated business management solution.
