A product can be described two ways: as designed, and as built. These are the engineering BOM and the manufacturing BOM. This piece is about handling both in Odoo in practice.
The two BOMs, briefly
The engineering BOM describes the product as the design engineers conceive it, organised by the logic of the design. The manufacturing BOM describes the product as the factory actually builds it: organised by assembly sequence, structured into the real sub-assemblies the floor produces, and including things the engineering view leaves out, such as production consumables and packaging. The same product, two views, serving design and production respectively.
The practical question in Odoo
The practical question for an Odoo manufacturer is how to hold both views, and keep them consistent, so that design has its authoritative definition and the factory builds from a realistic, complete one. How Odoo handles this depends on the edition.
With PLM in Odoo Enterprise
Odoo's product lifecycle management capability, part of Enterprise, is the proper tool for managing engineering versus manufacturing BOMs and, crucially, the change process between them. With PLM, engineering change is managed through engineering change orders, so a change to the design definition flows into the manufacturing definition in a controlled, reviewed, traceable way. For a manufacturer where the distinction between the design BOM and the build BOM is real and important, and where engineering change is frequent or must be controlled, PLM in Enterprise is the right answer, and a reason to plan on that edition.
With Odoo Community
In Odoo Community, without PLM, the engineering-versus-manufacturing-BOM distinction has to be handled more manually. Odoo allows a product to have more than one BOM, so a manufacturer can maintain a BOM that represents the design view and a separate BOM that represents the build view, the one organised by assembly sequence and including consumables and packaging. The manufacturing BOM is the one used to actually produce the product. The honest limitation is that, without PLM, keeping the two aligned, ensuring an engineering change flows correctly into the manufacturing BOM, is a manual discipline rather than a controlled process. A Community manufacturer doing this needs a clear, deliberate procedure for it.
The simpler reality for many manufacturers
It is worth an honest note: not every manufacturer needs to maintain two separate BOMs. For many, especially smaller manufacturers whose design and build are close, or whose products are simple, a single, well-built BOM, organised the way the factory builds and including the consumables and packaging production needs, is enough. The two-BOM distinction matters most where the design and the build genuinely diverge, and where there is a formal engineering function. A manufacturer should adopt the distinction because it genuinely needs it, not because it exists.
Why alignment matters
Whether a manufacturer keeps one BOM or two, the underlying point is alignment with reality. The BOM the factory builds from must match what is actually built, and it must reflect design changes. The risk the engineering-versus-manufacturing distinction guards against is the factory building to a definition that no longer matches the design. PLM manages that risk with control; in Community it is managed by discipline; with a single well-maintained BOM it is managed by keeping that one BOM correct. The goal is the same: the production definition is accurate and current.
The takeaway
In Odoo, the engineering BOM and manufacturing BOM are best managed, where the distinction genuinely matters, with PLM in Odoo Enterprise, which controls the change process between them. In Community, a manufacturer can maintain separate BOMs but must keep them aligned by manual discipline. Many manufacturers need only a single, well-built manufacturing BOM. Whatever the approach, the goal is a production definition that matches reality and reflects design change. For how we approach Odoo for manufacturers, see our manufacturing work.