Engineer to Order (ETO) Explained
Engineer to order, shortened to ETO, sits at the most customised end of manufacturing. It is a distinct strategy with distinct demands, and it is poorly served by systems built for repetitive producti...
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Field notes for teams running Odoo.
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Practical articles for the engineers and operators who work with Odoo and the systems around it.
Engineer to order, shortened to ETO, sits at the most customised end of manufacturing. It is a distinct strategy with distinct demands, and it is poorly served by systems built for repetitive producti...
Read postAn engineer-to-order manufacturer, one whose products are designed for each order, is poorly served by ordinary manufacturing software. This piece sets out what engineer-to-order software and ERP must...
Read postJob shop manufacturing is a common and demanding way of making things, and it is one that generic manufacturing advice often does not fit. This piece explains what a job shop is, how it works, and wha...
Read postA job shop, a manufacturer of varied, low-volume, made-to-order work, has specific software needs, and the options on the market differ in ways that matter. This piece sets out how to compare job shop...
Read postBatch manufacturing is a production method used across a wide range of industries, and it sits between two other methods in a way that explains both its strengths and its demands. This piece explains ...
Read postRepetitive manufacturing is the production method most people picture when they imagine a factory: a steady flow, the same products, day after day. This piece explains what repetitive manufacturing ac...
Read postSmall manufacturers hear a lot about MRP software and reasonably wonder whether it is something for them or something for larger companies. This guide explains what MRP software does for a small manuf...
Read postERP and MRP are two of the most confused terms in manufacturing software, partly because they are genuinely related and partly because the industry uses them loosely. This piece explains the differenc...
Read postMaterial requirements planning, almost always called MRP, is one of the foundational ideas in manufacturing. It is also one that is described either too vaguely to be useful or too technically to be c...
Read postThe bill of materials, almost always called the BOM, is the single most important piece of data in manufacturing. Almost everything a manufacturing system does depends on it. This guide explains thoro...
Read postA bill of materials is easiest to understand from a concrete example. This piece walks through a worked BOM, explains what each part of it is for, and then makes an honest point about templates: a spr...
Read postA single product can have more than one bill of materials, and the most important pair is the engineering BOM and the manufacturing BOM. They describe the same product but they are written for differe...
Read postIf a question keeps coming up in your operations, it might be worth a blog post.