A manufacturer holds and uses many components, and they should not all be supplied the same way. This piece is about component replenishment strategies in Odoo manufacturing and choosing the right one per component.
The question every component raises
Every component a manufacturer uses raises the same question: how do we make sure it is there when production needs it, without holding more of it than we should? Holding too little risks a stock-out that stops the line. Holding too much ties up cash. The replenishment strategy for a component is the answer to that question, and the right answer differs from component to component.
The two main strategies
Odoo supports two broad approaches to replenishing a component.
Stock-driven replenishment, with reordering rules. The component is kept topped up against a minimum and maximum stock level. When stock falls to the minimum, Odoo replenishes it. The component is managed as a stocked item, always kept available against levels, regardless of which specific production will consume it.
Demand-driven replenishment, through planning. The component is supplied based on actual demand: MRP works from the production planned, explodes the BOMs, and determines the component need from that. The component is supplied because specific production requires it, rather than being kept topped up against a level.
These are genuinely different strategies, and a manufacturer chooses between them per component.
When stock-driven suits a component
Reordering rules suit a component that is consumed steadily and fairly predictably, used across many production runs, and where keeping a stock of it on hand is sensible. For such a component, simply keeping it topped up against levels is efficient and reliable: it is always there, and the manufacturer does not have to plan its supply against every individual production order. Many common, steadily used components fit this.
When demand-driven suits a component
Demand-driven planning suits a component whose consumption is not steady or predictable, where keeping a standing stock would mean holding it for a long time uncertainly, or which is specific enough that it should be supplied for the production that needs it rather than stocked generally. An expensive component, or one used only for particular orders, or one with lumpy consumption, is often better supplied demand-driven, so it is brought in for the production that will consume it rather than sat in stock.
The make-to-order connection
Demand-driven component replenishment connects to make-to-order behaviour. When a make-to-order finished product is triggered by a sales order, the components it needs can themselves be supplied demand-driven, brought in or made because that specific order requires them. So a manufacturer's component strategy and its make-to-order or make-to-stock approach are related: the finished-product strategy and the component strategies together form the manufacturer's overall planning shape.
Choosing well, component by component
The practical work is to decide, for each component or each class of components, which strategy fits. The factors are how steady and predictable the component's consumption is, how costly it is to hold, how generally or specifically it is used, and what its lead time is. A manufacturer that thinks this through, rather than applying one blanket approach, ends up holding the right components in stock and supplying the rest on demand, which is what keeps both stock-outs and excess inventory low. Applying one strategy to everything means either over-stocking the components that should be demand-driven or under-supplying the components that should be stocked.
Review the strategies
One honest note. A component's right strategy can change. A component whose consumption was lumpy may become steady; a component that was steadily used may fall out of use. A manufacturer should revisit its component replenishment strategies periodically, so each component is still supplied the way that now suits it.
The takeaway
Component replenishment strategies in Odoo manufacturing come down to two approaches: stock-driven, keeping a component topped up against reordering-rule levels, and demand-driven, supplying a component based on the production that needs it. Stock-driven suits steady, predictable, generally used components; demand-driven suits lumpy, costly, or specific ones. Choose per component on consumption pattern, holding cost, use, and lead time, and review the choices as things change. For how we approach Odoo for manufacturers, see our manufacturing work.