In an Odoo business in Belgium or France, a manufacturing process can produce more than the main item: reusable offcuts, recycled material, secondary parts or a fraction for another product line. In Odoo Enterprise, a by-product records this output in the same manufacturing order. The configuration must represent an expected, measurable output, however, rather than a way to adjust inventory afterwards.
Separate by-products, scrap and reclaimed components
A by-product is an expected bill-of-material output: its quantity is known or estimated before execution. Scrap, by contrast, records a loss or unusable item and must remain traceable as such. Dismantling a finished product may return reusable components to inventory; that is another workflow. Keeping these distinctions protects yield metrics, inventory and valuation decisions.
Configure the bill of materials with a clear purpose
Enable By-Products in Manufacturing settings, then add each expected output on the dedicated bill-of-material tab. Specify the product, quantity and, where the flow requires it, the operation in which it is produced. Use distinct items when recycled material, saleable offcuts and secondary parts do not have the same destination or valuation.
Do not replace production measurement with a theoretical quantity that remains unchanged for months. The bill of materials provides a planning assumption; teams need an agreed method to record and analyse yield variances.
Make the movement verifiable when the order is completed
When the manufacturing order is completed, Odoo records the main item and configured by-products. Review product moves and traceability to confirm the destination location, quantity and, where required, lot or serial number. Material that must be isolated before quality approval should not automatically reach a location available for sale.
Connect yield, cost and accounting
By-products affect the economic reading of manufacturing. Before rollout, align production, controlling and finance on product categories, locations, valuation method and variance treatment. Then compare expected and actual quantities, component cost, operation cost and total by-product cost in Production Analysis. More by-products can signal better yield, but they can also reveal an overly broad definition of what is recoverable.
Test one nominal case and two exceptions
Fictional Underside scenario: a workshop turns a metal roll into finished parts and recyclable offcuts. The team confirms a manufacturing order, produces the parts and offcuts, then checks product moves, available quantities and values. It repeats the flow with a different offcut quantity, then with a lot placed in quarantine.
- Verify that the bill of materials creates the expected outputs in the manufacturing order.
- Check locations, lots and approval rights for by-products.
- Compare planned quantity, actual quantity and yield for a real production run.
- Test a lower quantity, a higher quantity and an unusable item to scrap.
- Review product moves, valuation and journal entries with finance.
- Document who may change the bill of materials and who approves variances.
Official source and scope
References: Odoo 19 documentation on by-products and Production Analysis. Check the modules, permissions and accounting rules that apply to your environment. The acceptance scenarios and governance recommendations are Underside’s analysis.
Frame your Odoo manufacturing flows with Underside, connecting yield, traceability and valuation.