Odoo 20 brings a long list of manufacturing changes. Most of them aim at the same thing: keeping production moving and making the plan easier to read and change. Here is what the official release notes list.
Production flow
- Continuous production. Produced quantities can now be recorded on work orders. If "Continuous Production" is enabled on the bill of materials, the next operation starts as soon as some quantity is ready, instead of waiting for the whole batch.
- Split manufacturing orders. Split an ongoing order to produce the remaining quantity later.
- Planned as soon as possible. Manufacturing orders are now planned ASAP by default. When several orders are planned together, their order in the list sets the priority.
- Backorders planned automatically when they are created.
- Draft or confirmed. On the Manufacturing operation type, choose whether procurement creates draft or confirmed manufacturing orders.
- Flexible consumption by default. The setting is removed: every manufacturing order now uses flexible consumption.
- One "Produce" button replaces "Produce" and "Produce All" in Manufacturing, Shop Floor and Barcode.
- Reset to draft validated or cancelled manufacturing orders, and process work orders in blocked work centers.
Planning views
- A new work order Kanban view, and a new Gantt view for planning work orders by drag and drop, with better colour coding and a planning-by-employee view. Work orders can be confirmed from the Gantt view.
- A redesigned manufacturing order Kanban: cards are grouped by week and show component status, active work center, deadline and remaining time.
- An updated work center overview with quick links to work orders and maintenance planning.
Bills of materials, cost and traceability
- Compare bills of materials by quantities used, register extra costs on the BoM, and manage components and sub-assemblies from the BoM form.
- The "Used In" button on a product now shows the exact BoM component lines, which makes component replacements easier.
- The MO cost shows the provisional cost while an order is in progress and the real cost when it is done. Subcontracted products now include component costs.
- Lots and serial numbers are always generated when an order is closed. The traceability report shows expiration dates, and lot transfers show the exact delivery lines, for more precise recalls.
PLM, Quality and Shop Floor
In PLM, BoM changes appear in one report with cost comparisons, and version updates on an engineering change order are now optional. In Quality, admins can validate transfers without performing the checks, and a failure location can be set when a check fails. In Shop Floor, work centers can be selected by scanning their barcode, and manufacturing order notes support rich text.
How to get it
Odoo 20 is available now for new databases on Odoo Online and Odoo.sh. For existing databases, Odoo expects to open its upgrade platform around the end of November 2026, with a test mode available earlier. If your database has custom modules, plan a test upgrade first: that is where most of the real work sits.
Planning an Odoo 20 upgrade for a factory? We can review your production setup with you: odoo@majorbird.com.
Sources
- Official release notes: Odoo 20 Release Notes (中文版: Odoo 20 发布说明)
- Video: Meet Odoo 20's best features (Odoo, YouTube)
- Documentation: Odoo 20 user documentation