In the EPC world, we focus on the big-ticket items like turbines, steel, and solar panels. But it’s the ‘C-Class’ items—the nuts, bolts, and washers—that usually cause the most expensive site delays.
Imagine your company is installing a large-scale Solar Power Plant. You don’t just send random piles of parts to the site; you send “Installation Kits”.
The Installation Kit contains: 4 x Aluminium Rails, 8 x Mid-Clamps, 4 x End-Clamps, 16 x Steel Bolts
#1 Problem: The “Invisible” Components
In a basic manual system, you create a new product called “Installation Kit”. When you sell one, the system looks for a product called “Installation Kit” on the shelf.
The Reality: There is no such physical item. There are only Aluminium Rails, Clamps and Bolts.
The Error: The system doesn’t “know” it needs to subtract 4 from the Aluminium Rails Stock, 8 from the End-Clamps stock, and 4 from the Mid-clamps stock & 16 from Steel bolts.
#2 The Problem: The “Phantom” Material Shortage
The Reality: When project site A requests 100 “Installation Kits,” the system checks the stock for that specific name. It doesn’t “look inside” to see if you actually have 1,600 bolts (16 bolts x 100 kits) in the main warehouse.
The Error: The warehouse team ships 100 Kits. On paper, it looks fine. But because the bolts weren’t deducted individually from the “Hardware” category, the procurement team thinks they still have 5,000 bolts available for a different project.
The Chaos: Project B starts, but when the team goes to the shelf, it’s empty. The site crew sits idle for three days waiting for a 5-cent bolt. In EPC, idle labor is the biggest profit killer.
The Odoo Fix: Bills of Materials (BoM) for Kits in EPC Industry
Odoo uses a specific type of logic called a “Kit” Bill of Materials. It allows you to sell a product that doesn’t “exist” as a physical unit, but represents a collection of other units.
1. Automated Deconstruction
When you create a product in Odoo and set its BoM type to “Kit,” Odoo understands the relationship.
The Action: A customer buys the “Installation Kit.”
The Odoo Reaction: Odoo instantly looks at the BoM and tells the warehouse team to pick 4 Aluminium Rails, 8 Mid-Clamps, 4 End-Clamps, 16 Steel Bolts
2. Real-Time Component Deduction
When a Material Issue Note (MIN) is generated for 100 Kits, Odoo automatically explodes the list into its components: 400 rails, 800 mid-clamps, etc. The warehouse team gets a Picking List for the components, not the kit name.
3. Dynamic Kit Availability
This is the most powerful part: Odoo can calculate how many “Kits” you have available based on the components.
If you have 80 Aluminium Rails, 80 Mid-Clamps, 80 End-Clamps, 80 Steel Bolts Odoo will tell your sales team: “We can only sell 5 Installation Kits.” This prevents you from selling a bundle you physically cannot fulfill.
Stop the manual math. Sell your bundles with 100% inventory confidence.
Let’s build smarter systems.