Logistics

Logistics is about managing material flows within company - in practise purchasing, stock management and deliveries. But also putaways and pickings to/from stock, internal transfers, production, returns depending on definitions.  Supply chain management is sometimes used as a synonum for logistics, but actually SCM covers by definition the whole supply chain from the very beginning to final customer. To give an example: if company is producing toasters, its logistics might start from purchasing steel and end when they deliver goods to wholesaler. But SCM would start from mining the ore for steel and only end when mr Smith purchases the toaster from local store and brings it to home. SCM requires usually cross-company material and information flow, which is probably more than you can do with single ERP. Typically it requires ERP for each party in the supply chain (excluding the consumer), so you could think of ERP as company's ticket to this game.

One of the main concepts in logistics is product, which might be purchasable, manufacturable or sellable. Or rentable, if that is your business. It can have bill of material specifying the components that it consists of. In manufacturing the BOM is critical for production operation, and sales BOM (aka kit) controls what to pick from stock when product has been sold - familiar example being purchasing from IKEA. 

Products can be transferred within and between physical locations, so that one and same product is purchasable for one and manufacturable for the other. Also the ownership of the product can be different than the physical location, if consignment stock is being used. One could either have vendors' products in their own location, or company's products at customers location, with a contract that ownership is changed when product is picked. 

Products may require tracking either based on production batch or serial number - either based on own production or based on vendors production. This kind of tracking usually requires precise identification of stock bathes, so bar code or QR tags. Which would then be used in picking and packing operations to distinguish between similar looking products and making sure exactly the correct one is ultimately sent to customer.

In procurement systems should help keeping the stock levels within desired limits, set for each product separately. Material requirements planning (aka replenishment planning) would then propose actions based on stock levels and forecasts. Procurement might include requests for quotations, contracts, electronic signatures and confirmations etc. Purchasing will also be the bases for stock inbound operations, so that incoming goods are immediately recognized and can be router to suitable bin in the stock. 

From stock goods are picked to production and to customer deliveries, either individually or in waves (batches) or per stock areas or with some even more complex way. This can be done by using bar-code readers, tablets or even smart phones, if not traditional paper based picking list is not flexible enough. And there are even more sophisticated methods available, if none of these work, like voice commands, finger tip barcode readers etc..

Nowadays it is also common practise to provide products via web shop, both at local stores and also in manufacturing plants. Customers can be consumers or other businesses or both (B2C or B2B scenario) with different catalogues and price lists for different partners. The eCom platform is available out-of-the box in Odoo directly, but it can also integrate with WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, Amazon, eBay and several others.

All of above can be managed effectively with Odoo. Options are many and it takes some thinking and planning to make it all happen. We are glad to help you plan the transition to Odoo! You can book the time right now! 

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