Casting Manufacturer Streamlines Production Planning with Odoo MRP

Case Study: Casting Manufacturer Streamlines Production Planning with Odoo MRP

Many casting manufacturers continue to manage production planning using handwritten registers, Excel sheets, verbal coordination, and disconnected systems.

This case study explains how a Maharashtra-based grey iron casting manufacturer transformed production planning, inventory visibility, and delivery performance using a customised Odoo MRP implementation.

Within three months of go-live, the company improved on-time delivery from 71% to 94%, reduced raw material wastage by 28%, and dramatically simplified daily production planning.

At a Glance

• Industry: Grey Iron Casting Manufacturing
• Segments Served: Automotive, Agriculture, Industrial Machinery
• Plant Size: Approximately 120 employees with two production lines
• Production Model: Make-to-order and make-to-stock across 80+ SKUs
• Location: Maharashtra
• Project: Odoo ERP implementation with MRP, Inventory, Purchase, and Quality modules
• Timeline: 12 weeks from project kickoff to go-live
• Outcome: Faster production planning, improved delivery performance, and live operational visibility

The Story Behind the Transformation

The client had been operating successfully for over fifteen years and had built a strong customer base across automotive and industrial sectors.

However, as annual revenue grew from ₹5 crore to nearly ₹20 crore, operational complexity started exposing weaknesses in their manual planning system.

Teams were working harder every year, but production efficiency and delivery performance were not improving at the same pace.

Production managers relied heavily on manual registers, verbal updates, and personal experience to manage daily operations.

As order volume increased, this approach became increasingly difficult to sustain.

The Problem: Production Planning Was Completely Manual

Before working with Sunray Datalinks, the casting manufacturer had no integrated system for production planning.

Customer orders arrived through email and phone calls.

The production manager manually reviewed orders, checked handwritten production registers, and estimated available capacity using experience rather than live system data.

Raw material requirements were calculated on paper — and sometimes from memory.

If material shortages existed, production teams usually discovered them only after work had already started on the shop floor.

Work orders were issued as printed sheets, while progress updates were shared verbally during end-of-day meetings.

Customer order status requests often required physically walking through the plant to verify production progress.

This created several major operational problems:

• Production planning delays every morning
• Frequent raw material stockouts
• Reactive purchasing and emergency procurement
• Poor on-time delivery performance
• No real-time production visibility
• Manual MIS reporting with outdated information

Management decisions were often based on delayed or incomplete data.

Key Operational Challenges Identified

1. Daily Production Planning Consumed Hours

The production manager spent 3–4 hours every morning building the day's production plan manually.

On Mondays, this process sometimes extended to half a day while reconciling inventory, pending orders, and available capacity.

2. Raw Material Stockouts Were Common

Without automated material requirement planning, the purchase team operated reactively.

Emergency purchases and premium freight costs became routine operational expenses.

3. Poor Delivery Performance

Only 71% of customer orders were being delivered on time.

This was especially damaging for automotive OEM customers with strict delivery schedules.

4. No Real-Time Management Visibility

The owner had no reliable way to check production status without calling the plant manager directly.

MIS reports prepared every Friday were already outdated by Monday morning.

Why the Client Chose Odoo MRP with Sunray Datalinks

Before selecting Sunray Datalinks, the client had evaluated multiple ERP vendors.

Most solutions proposed generic manufacturing workflows that did not align with actual casting operations.

Critical processes like heat batch tracking, pattern-based production, and multi-stage quality inspection required deeper manufacturing customisation.

Sunray Datalinks approached the project differently.

Instead of immediately recommending software, the team spent two full days onsite mapping the plant's production workflow before designing the solution architecture.

The final implementation included:

• Odoo Manufacturing (MRP)
• Inventory Management
• Purchase Management
• Quality Management
• Custom heat batch tracking workflows
• Customised work order processes matching shop-floor operations

The Solution Sunray Built

1. Bill of Materials and Routing Configuration

Detailed Bills of Materials (BoMs) were configured for every product in the catalogue.

Each BoM included:

• Raw material grades
• Consumption quantities
• Process routing sequences
• Operation timings

Production routing reflected the actual shop-floor process:

• Pattern preparation
• Moulding
• Melting
• Pouring
• Fettling
• Shot blasting
• Quality inspection

With routing and BoMs configured properly, Odoo MRP could now automatically calculate production schedules and material requirements within seconds.

2. Custom Heat Batch Tracking

Standard lot tracking was insufficient for casting traceability requirements.

A custom heat batch module was developed to record:

• Chemical composition data
• Melt temperature
• Pour date
• Heat batch linkage to finished goods

This enabled full traceability and simplified compliance reporting for automotive customers requiring heat certificates.

3. Automated Material Requirement Planning

The MRP engine now calculates material requirements daily based on:

• Confirmed customer orders
• Production schedules
• Inventory availability
• Reorder rules

The purchase team receives automated procurement suggestions every morning.

Emergency purchases dropped significantly within the first month after implementation.

4. Digital Quality Control

Inspection checkpoints were configured at fettling and final inspection stages.

Quality inspection results are now recorded digitally against every work order.

Rejection data automatically feeds into quality analysis dashboards reviewed monthly by management.

5. Live Production Dashboards

Custom dashboards provided management with real-time visibility into:

• Orders in progress
• Work orders by stage
• Material availability
• Planned vs actual production
• Pending dispatches

Information that previously required phone calls and physical verification became instantly accessible from any device.

How the Rollout Was Executed

The implementation followed a phased rollout approach over twelve weeks.

• Requirements gathering and process mapping — 2 weeks
• BoM, routing, and MRP configuration — 4 weeks
• Custom heat batch module development — 3 weeks
• User training and parallel run — 3 weeks

The phased approach ensured smoother adoption while minimising disruption to ongoing production operations.

The Results After Three Months

Operational Improvements

• Production planning time reduced by nearly 50%
• Daily planning reduced from 3–4 hours to approximately 45 minutes
• On-time delivery improved from 71% to 94%
• Raw material wastage reduced by 28%
• Emergency purchases reduced significantly

Management Improvements

• 100% elimination of manual MIS reporting
• Live dashboards replaced delayed Excel reports
• Board reports generated directly from Odoo
• Improved confidence in delivery planning

Operational Visibility Improvements

Management could now monitor plant activity, production progress, and dispatch readiness directly from mobile dashboards in real time.

In the Client's Words

Key Lessons from the Project

Understand the Actual Manufacturing Workflow First

ERP systems succeed when they are designed around the plant's real operational process rather than generic manufacturing templates.

Material Planning Must Be Automated

Manual material planning becomes increasingly unreliable as SKU count and order complexity grow.

Live Dashboards Improve Management Confidence

The moment management gained real-time operational visibility, planning discussions became faster, clearer, and more data-driven.

What This Means for Casting and Foundry Businesses

If your casting or foundry business still relies heavily on manual production planning, disconnected reports, and reactive purchasing, these operational problems will only increase as the business grows.

A properly implemented Odoo MRP system can dramatically improve production visibility, planning accuracy, material control, and delivery performance.

The key is working with an implementation partner who understands manufacturing operations deeply — not just the software itself.