How Apagen Streamlined Auto Spare Parts Manufacturing Operations via Odoo ERP

Client Overview

Our client is a mid-sized auto parts manufacturer supplying precision components to OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers. They handle everything, raw material procurement, in-house machining, assembly, testing, and equipment maintenance. Their operations were growing fast, but their internal systems couldn’t keep up.

Manual tracking, inconsistent data, and limited visibility were affecting production planning, quality consistency, and on-time deliveries.

Project Overview

The client wanted to streamline their entire production cycle, from purchasing raw materials to maintaining machines on the shop floor. Their goal was simple:

• Eliminate manual follow-ups.
• Improve coordination between departments.
• Get real-time visibility of material movement, production status, and QC results.

We implemented Odoo ERP for manufacturing covering five key modules: Purchase, Inventory, Manufacturing, Quality Control (QC), and Maintenance.

Challenges & Objectives

Challenges:

• Purchase orders raised manually, often delayed.
• Material shortages due to poor visibility of stock.
• Production team unaware of pending material receipts.
• QC results tracked on paper, no digital trace.
• Equipment breakdowns due to lack of preventive maintenance.
• Frequent communication gaps between purchase, stores, and production.

Objectives:

• Automate purchase planning and vendor coordination.
• Integrate stock with production and project demands.
• Enable real-time QC tracking and approvals.
• Reduce downtime through preventive maintenance.
• Establish a single source of truth for all operations.

Scope of Work

• Automate PO creation and approvals.
• Integrate Inventory with Manufacturing and QC.
• Implement real-time stock tracking with material movement logs.
• Add QC checkpoints at incoming, in-process, and final inspection stages.
• Configure Maintenance module for preventive and breakdown maintenance.
• Train teams on standardized workflows across departments.

Solution Design

Purchase:

• Auto-generated purchase orders based on minimum stock rules and production forecasts. Example: When raw material for brake assemblies dropped below threshold, the system triggered a PO automatically.
• Multi-level approval workflows for better control.

Inventory:

• Real-time stock view: in-hand, reserved, in-transit, and QC hold.
• Automatic stock reservation for production orders.
• Barcode-enabled goods receipt and issue.

Manufacturing:

• Clear Bill of Materials (BoM) and routing setup for each part.
• Production orders generated automatically once materials were available.
• Stage-wise tracking: raw → machining → assembly → packaging.

Quality Control (QC):

• Incoming QC: Each batch inspected before stock entry.
• In-process QC: Quality checks integrated at critical manufacturing stages.
• Final QC: Only passed products marked ready for dispatch. Example: If one lot failed dimension test, system held that lot until rework.

Maintenance:

• Configured preventive maintenance schedules for all critical machines.
• Breakdown tickets linked directly with asset and spare parts stock.
• Example: If a CNC spindle needed service, the system created a ticket and checked spare availability instantly.

Implementation Steps

1. Process Mapping: Mapped existing workflows with production and procurement heads.
2. System Configuration: Set up Purchase, Inventory, Manufacturing, QC, and Maintenance modules.
3. Custom Workflows: Designed PO triggers, approval matrix, QC stages, and maintenance alerts.
4. Data Migration: Imported vendor master, product list, opening stock, BoM, and machine history.
5. User Training: Conducted on-floor sessions for each department.
6. Pilot & Go-Live: Rolled out in phases — purchase and inventory first, followed by manufacturing and QC, then maintenance.

Execution Challenges

• Staff were used to manual registers and paper slips.
• Material codes were inconsistent.
• QC team initially found digital entry time-consuming.
• Production schedules and maintenance downtime needed alignment.

How we solved it:

• Standardized material codes and product naming.
• Weekly feedback sessions for fine-tuning workflows.
• Simplified QC forms for faster data entry.
• Created dashboards showing machine downtime vs output.

Results & Impact

• Procurement cycle time reduced by 45%.
• Real-time visibility of every stock item.
• Zero billing mismatches after PO-GRN-Vendor Bill integration.
• Machine uptime improved by 30% with preventive maintenance.
• 100% QC traceability from incoming material to finished product.
• Production planning accuracy improved due to live data sync.

Client Feedback & Innovations

Client said:

“Now, everything talks to each other, purchase, stores, production, and quality. The system shows what’s available, what’s in process, and what’s delayed, instantly.”

Innovations Introduced:

• Auto PO triggers from minimum stock and production demand.
• QC rejection handling directly integrated with rework orders.
• Spare parts tracking through maintenance tickets.
• Department-wise consumption analytics for cost control.

Key Learnings & Project Team

Key Learnings:

• Standardizing BoM and QC parameters upfront saves time later.
• Change management is crucial, people adopt faster when they see benefits.
• Maintenance and production teams must share live data for better planning.

Project Team:

• ERP Functional Consultants
• Manufacturing & Maintenance Experts
• Implementation & Support Engineers
• Client’s Purchase, Production, QC, and Maintenance Teams

The client now runs a fully connected production ecosystem — from Purchase → Inventory → Manufacturing → QC → Maintenance. No more paper, no more manual follow-ups, just real-time control, predictable production, and zero chaos.

To know more on how we can help streamline your operations, just drop us a line at sales@apagen.com or call us on - +91 9971800665.