Odoo Product Lifecycle Management: Features, Tutorial, & A Real-Life Case Study

Odoo Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is an application that can change how businesses approach product design, development, and changes. Let’s put ourselves in a situation where one applies a centralised location for handling all bills of materials (BOMs), and engineering change orders (ECOs) and ensure all departments are in sync without misunderstandings.

Let’s find out how Odoo PLM offers integrated processes, real-time collaboration, strong version control, and cross-functional cooperation. In this guide, you will explore Odoo PLM’s features and use cases in a Sydney-based startup.

What Is Odoo Product Lifecycle Management Module?

Odoo Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) covers all the processes that involve product designing, development, marketing, selling, and even disposal. It offers a single location for storing and managing data about products, Bills of Materials (BOM), and engineering change orders (ECO), simplifying controlling revisions and product modifications.

Integrated with Odoo’s production and inventory modules, Odoo PLM streamlines design, production process, or BOM updates across departments, reducing manual work and miscommunication.

• Centralised version control: Odoo PLM ensures that teams have a stable version of product data for multiple product versions. This allows different departments to be on the same page without confusion and errors.
• Enhanced collaboration: With Odoo, different teams can communicate within the platform. Teams can share information regarding changes, or updates on products and services hence improving efficiency.
• Seamless Manufacturing & Inventory integration: Odoo PLM also integrates with the manufacturing and inventory apps, facilitating the movement from design to manufacturing and speeding up the processes.
• Improved quality control: Odoo PLM follows a structured lifecycle management strategy. This helps companies standardise different quality attributes to deliver the end products to the customers in the best way possible.

Are you new to Odoo? Learn the essentials in Odoo Guide For Beginners.

How much is Odoo PLM?

Odoo PLM can be free if you only use this app, or paid when being integrated with other apps.

Specifically, the Odoo Product Lifecycle Management module is only available for the Odoo Enterprise edition. In this edition, you can choose between the Free and Paid plans. However, for the Free plan, you can only use Odoo PLM without using any other apps for free (but there’s an exceptional case that we’ll mention later). In general, it’s more common for users to choose among the paid plans to embrace advanced features, integrating Odoo PLM with related apps such as Odoo Inventory or Odoo Manufacturing (MRP).

As described above, with Odoo Enterprise’s One-App Free plan, you can only use one Odoo app for free. However, in this plan, if you select an app that requires the installation of other apps, you will be able to use all of the required apps for free (with limited features). For example, we choose Odoo PLM, but it also needs to work with Odoo Inventory and MRP, so the result still says “free forever”.

Odoo Enterprise’ paid plans start at AUD$34.4 per user per month, and the custom plan is at AUD$52 per user per month. The price level may vary depending on your region and other additional services such as installation or customisation services.

6 Key Features Of Odoo Product Lifecycle Management

The following six key Odoo PLM features contribute to a holistic approach to smoothly coordinated product lifecycle management that in turn enhances the production timeline and quality of the products. Let’s dive in.

1. Engineering Change Management

Odoo PLM enhances collaboration between departments by providing an effective solution for handling engineering change orders (ECO). Additionally, with enterprise social network (ESN) integration, users can share updates, approvals, and discussions directly on the document, improving clarity and productivity. This feature erases the cumbersome process of approval, helping team members follow relevant changes, closing communication gaps, and optimising the engineering change order process.

2. Integrated Document Management

As part of document management integration, documents such as drawings, worksheets and quality documents can be attached and easily retrieved within Odoo PLM. Users can affix files to Bills of Material (BOMs), routings, or other key manufacturing documents, or access them quickly when required. Further, using alerts, and triggers, the production teams can be informed of the changes made to the existing work centre control panels. This facilitates streamlined communication between various manufacturing teams.

3. Version Control & Smart Versioning

The Odoo Product Lifecycle Management version control allows users to manage different versions of product documents at once. It also links engineering and manufacturing BOMs, the EBOM and MBOM, thereby eliminating common mistakes made across different departments. Smart versioning enables users to make changes on the different versions of the same BOM simultaneously, making adjustments where needed. This feature helps minimise the difficulties of managing engineering and manufacturing change orders, enabling all departments to maintain a consistent version of the document.

4. Real-Time Collaboration Dashboard

The Odoo PLM dashboard provides product management teams with an engaging, collaborative, and real-time work environment. This interface offers a simple view of engineering changes, documentation revisions, and approvals in progress. For example, it helps users sort and filter assignments based on their position and responsibilities, increasing work efficiency within multi-member teams. With centralised project data, this module assists in keeping every engineering and production department informed of changes and updates.

5. Core Apps & Third-party Integrations

Odoo Product Lifecycle Management can be easily connected to other core Odoo apps such as Odoo Manufacturing, Quality, Purchase or Maintenance. This integration helps capture your data in one place and allows smooth data flow, providing a scalable solution when companies scale up.

Users can also integrate Odoo PLM with other software for design, production or project management. This means that businesses can continue building on existing solutions and processes without having to change. For example, engineering teams can link data from design tools such as CAD applications into the Odoo PLM and vice versa to keep an updated copy of product design documents and ease the BOM update process.

Read more: Odoo & SolidEdge Integration - Better Data Exchange & Design Collaboration.

Odoo PLM Tutorial: Understanding The Basic ECO Pipeline

Let’s take an example of a ‘Wood Shelf’ BOM with only one version - the first iteration of the product. This BOM also has an attached file which is the first version of the product.

Watch the details:

Let’s go into the Odoo Product Lifecycle Management module

1. Create new ECO types

Go to ‘Configuration’ > Choose ECO types > Create ‘New’.

2. Create ECO stages

2.1 Click on ‘Engineering changes’ > Add stages (i..e New, In progress, Approved, & Effective)

2.2 Go to Edit Approved stage > Add managerial approval > Add user, role, and approval type.

2.3 Go to Edit Effective stage:

• Choose ‘allow to apply changes’: the old product version will be archived, and the new revision from the previous stage can be applied and take effect.
• Choose ‘final stage’ and ‘folded in the Kanban view’.

3. Create a new ECO

Click ‘New’ > Check the correct ECO types > Select the product you want.

In case you have multiple BOMs, choose the specific BOM you need > Add ‘At Date’ to the ‘Effective' option. This means to determine when the changes are to take effect.

> Describe the desired changes in the Note > Start Revision.

3.1 Move ECO to the ‘In progress’ stage

• Upload new documents to update the product design, and remove the old design.
• Go back to the ECO > Click on a smart button that says ‘Revision V2’ > You will see a red ‘Archived’ flag, which means it is not active yet.
• Go to Miscellaneous > product version is 2 > start applying changes directly on this version.
• Go to Components > Add additional components as needed.
• Go to Operations > Increase the duration as needed.
• Go back to ECO > You will see two new tabs appear with the new updates based on the changes made.

3.2 Move ECO to the ‘Approved’ stage

• You will see that ‘Activities’ are automatically updated by the admin (who was set as approver at this stage).
• At this point, the Admin approves the stage & marks the activity as done.

3.3 Move ECO to the “Effective’ stage

Here we will review the product versions with the original BOM.

Choose ‘Apply changes’ > This will make the original BOM archived, and the revision active > This version 2 will be used from now until the next ECO is established.

A Sydney-Based Startup Went Global With Odoo PLM Integration

Based in Sydney, Baraja was formed in 2016 as a LiDAR innovator for autonomous vehicles. The company faced considerable operational challenges in the early years of expanding beyond its domestic market. As its processes became more complex, it was evident that Baraja needed a fully integrated ERP system. The system needs to streamline the company’s operations, including PLM and others to sustain growth and expansion.

To cover these needs, Baraja chose Odoo, leveraging the Odoo Product Lifecycle Management module with other applications such as Odoo Purchase, Inventory, Manufacturing, and Quality. With Odoo PLM, Baraja could organise ECOs and product versions effectively because ECOs and product versions are essential for their niche and dynamically changing LiDAR industry. Connecting with other Odoo apps like Inventory and Manufacturing enabled Baraja to attain real-time production synchronised and the reduction of paperwork and human mistakes.

Through this integration, Baraja was able to experience a marked efficiency gain. Procurement and inventory management was automated, freeing up employees’ time for more important work. Havi also helped Baraja adjust other Odoo modules, including PLM, to their needs, allowing it to expand the team from 9 to 96 people and reduce manufacturing time by 20 minutes per hour. This not only resulted in saving operational costs but also prepared Baraja for sustainable continued growth and expansion into other markets.

Get Your Business Ready For Odoo PLM

Thanks to the Odoo Product Lifecycle Management module, users will be ready to manage multiple product life cycles, from the conception of the idea up to its end-of-life stage. If you are willing to change the approach to the management of your product, Havi Technology is available to offer a solution that will fit your operations most effectively.

Odoo Product Lifecycle Management - FAQs

1. What are the features of PLM in Odoo?

Some of the key functionalities of the Odoo PLM module include engineering change management, integrated document control, version control, and more. It fosters effective BoM management and also updates data in real time to eliminate mistakes in production. The module also integrates its workflow with other Odoo’s core apps such as Manufacturing and Inventory.

2. Is Odoo PLM free?

You can use Odoo PLM for free with the Odoo Enterprise’s One-App Free plan, or use it with the Odoo Inventory and MRP apps for free with limited features (as mentioned in the first section). In case you need to use Odoo PLM with the other apps, it’s recommended to subscribe to Odoo’s Paid plans.

References:

• Odoo. Product Lifecycle Management.