PCB Manufacturer

The client is a specialized PCB manufacturer serving customers with complex technical, quality, compliance, and delivery requirements. Its operations require much more than conventional order and inventory management.

As their business grew, the client needed an ERP capable of bringing their complex processes together without sacrificing the specialized controls required in PCB manufacturing. Navabrind IT Solutions designed a solution on Odoo 19 combining standard Odoo applications with purpose-built functionality for PCB configuration, factory compliance, pricing, quotation governance, Special Production Agreements, quality, and operational traceability.

The client’s requirement went beyond a standard ERP implementation. Its commercial and manufacturing decisions depended on interconnected technical, supplier, compliance, pricing, and quality information.

1. Complex PCB configurations had to be managed for every customer and project
Each customer requirement could involve multiple PCB configurations with different technical specifications, including:

• PCB type
• Number of layers
• Material
• Board thickness
• Surface finish
• Impedance requirements
• HDI, VIPPO and microvia requirements
• Dimensions and board area
• Unit weight
• Units per panel and carton
• Quantities
• Expected lead times
• Technical documents such as Gerber files and stackups

Configurations also needed revision control and had to remain linked to the specific customer and project from which they originated.

2. Supplier selection could not be based on price alone
Before a factory could even be considered for pricing, the client had to determine whether it was technically and commercially eligible to manufacture a particular PCB.

Eligibility could depend on:

• PCB technology capabilities
• Supported layer ranges
• Materials and plating classes
• Customer-approved vendor lists
• Country or regional restrictions
• Required certifications
• Certificate validity
• Special Production Agreement requirements
• Project-specific exceptions

This created a major governance challenge: sales and procurement teams needed to ensure that an attractive commercial offer could never override a compliance restriction.

3. Pricing involved multiple sources and complex calculations
The client used two distinct pricing approaches:

Standard pricing could reuse historical or cataloged panel, square-meter, or production-bundle pricing.

Factory benchmarking involved collecting fresh pricing from one or more eligible factories.

Regardless of the method, prices then had to be normalized to a comparable landed cost per unit, factoring in quantity, board dimensions, panel utilization, currencies, freight, lead time, and margins.

4. Quotations needed far stronger governance
A single RFQ could result in multiple commercial options combining different:

• Quantities
• Lead times
• Factories
• Cost structures
• Tooling charges
• Margins

Once a quotation was issued, the underlying commercial assumptions needed to remain frozen for auditability. Changes could not silently alter historical quotations.

The client therefore required complete visibility into which factory, cost, freight assumption, margin, pricing route and commercial option had been used to generate every quotation.

5. Compliance had to continue beyond the quotation
An approved supplier at RFQ stage could not automatically remain approved indefinitely. Certifications could expire, project requirements could change, and SPA validity could change.

Compliance therefore needed to be revalidated before key transaction milestones such as:

• Sending a quotation
• Confirming a sales order
• Issuing a purchase order

The ERP had to actively prevent a transaction from proceeding where the latest compliance conditions were not satisfied.

6. Quality and production visibility were fragmented across the order lifecycle
The client also needed stronger control after an order was placed.

Production and delivery needed to be traceable across stages including:

Customer RFQ → Supplier RFQ → Technical Query → Engineering Query → Production → Inbound Transit → Warehouse → Outbound Shipment → Delivery → Closure.

Inbound inspection also needed to capture quantity, packaging, and content conformity, while non-conformities had to remain linked to the relevant customer order, purchase order, supplier, and RMA process.

Instead of rebuilding ERP functionality, standard Odoo applications were used for a strong operational foundation. Specialized PCB manufacturing and compliance requirements were then addressed through carefully designed extensions.

The solution brought together:

CRM & Sales · Purchase · Inventory · Quality · Documents · Approvals · Contacts · Portal · Discuss/Activities

with custom functionality for:

PCB configuration · Compliance · Pricing · Supplier benchmarking · Quotation governance · SPA control · Freight · Quality · Traceability · Reporting.

1. Project-Based PCB Configuration Management
Every opportunity begins with a dedicated PCB project linked to:

• The customer
• Internal sales owner/KAM
• Project status
• Compliance overrides
• Commercial history
• Documents
• Communication history

One or more PCB configurations can then be maintained within the project.

Each configuration becomes the structured technical definition of the board instead of relying on scattered spreadsheets, emails, and attachments.

Technical and logistics specifications, supporting files and revision information remain linked to the same business record throughout the opportunity lifecycle.

This provides the client with a consistent product definition that can drive compliance, costing, quotation, and procurement.

2. Centralized Factory Capability and Certification Management
Supplier information was extended beyond standard vendor master data.

Each factory can maintain structured records for:

• Country and region
• PCB technologies supported
• Layer capabilities
• Material capabilities
• Plating classes
• X-out support
• Certifications
• Certificate expiry dates
• Supporting certification documents
• SPA agreements
• Freight lanes
• Operational notes
• Historical performance indicators

The supplier decision is therefore based on structured operational data rather than individual knowledge or manual checks.

3. Automated PCB Compliance Engine
At the heart of the solution is a purpose-built compliance engine.

For every PCB configuration, Odoo evaluates:

PCB configuration → Customer requirements → Project exceptions → Factory capabilities → Certifications → SPA requirements → Factory approval

The engine uses a snapshot of the PCB configuration together with customer rules, supplier data, certification status, SPA agreements, and planned production dates.

Factories can automatically be rejected for conditions such as:

• Blocked country or region
• Missing mandatory certification
• Expired certification
• Unsupported layer count
• Unsupported PCB technology
• Missing or invalid SPA
• Material or plating incompatibility
• Exclusion from the customer’s approved vendor list

Odoo records why each supplier passed or failed.

If no supplier passes compliance, pricing is blocked until the configuration is corrected or a controlled exception is approved.

If suppliers are approved, only those factories become available to the pricing and procurement process.

This creates an important separation between commercial pressure and compliance governance.

4. Dual Pricing Engine for Standard Pricing and Supplier Benchmarking
Odoo was designed to support two pricing routes depending on the opportunity.

Standard Panel Pricing
Existing approved pricing can be reused where applicable.

Odoo can store:

• Panel prices
• Square-meter prices
• Production bundle prices
• Lead times
• Minimum quantities
• Supplier
• Freight assumptions
• Price validity

The pricing engine converts this into a unit cost based on the technical configuration, board dimensions, units per panel, and requested quantity.

Crucially, a standard price is only available when its associated factory currently passes compliance for that customer and configuration.

Factory Benchmarking
For opportunities requiring fresh pricing, procurement can request quotations from multiple compliance-approved factories.

For each response, Odoo records:

• Factory
• Quantity
• Lead time
• Price basis
• Supplier price
• Currency
• Exchange rate
• Freight
• Comments

All supplier responses are normalized into landed cost per unit.

Factories and commercial options can then be evaluated using factors such as landed cost, lead time, geography or strategic supplier scoring.

This gives sales and procurement teams a consistent basis for comparing suppliers rather than manually reconciling quotations prepared using different units, currencies and freight assumptions.

5. Automated Landed-Cost and Freight Calculations
Freight was deliberately separated into two distinct commercial flows.

Inbound freight covers movement from factory to the client’s warehouse and contributes to landed product cost.

Outbound freight covers movement from warehouse to customer and can be included or charged independently.

The freight model can account for:

• Provider
• Origin/destination lane
• Weight bracket
• Carton quantity
• Validity period
• Inclusion/exclusion rules

Quotations can therefore show clearly what is included in the PCB unit price and what remains a separate commercial charge. This improves both costing accuracy and commercial transparency.

6. Multi-Option Quotation Generation
Once compliant factories and normalized costs are available, Odoo applies the client’s margin rules to generate customer-facing commercial options.

Each option can combine a different:

• Quantity
• Lead time
• Supplier
• Landed cost
• Freight assumption
• Margin
• Selling price

Tooling and other non-recurring engineering charges can remain separate from product pricing. This allows the sales team to provide customers with genuine commercial choices without repeatedly rebuilding quotations manually.

7. Quote Freeze and Full Commercial Auditability
One of the most important customizations was quotation governance.

At the moment a quotation is issued, Odoo preserves a snapshot containing:

• Approved factories
• Pricing source
• Supplier cost
• Freight
• Margin
• Commercial options
• Relevant compliance state

Historical pricing can therefore no longer change silently.
Where a quotation must be changed, an explicit new revision is created while the original version remains available for reference. This provides a complete trail of how a commercial decision was reached and significantly strengthens auditability.

8. Special Production Agreement Governance
The solution also incorporates Special Production Agreements (SPAs) directly into supplier and transaction governance.

Each SPA can maintain:

• Factory
• Validity period
• Status
• Signed agreement
• Applicable rules

Where an SPA is mandatory, only suppliers with an active, matching agreement can pass compliance.

Relevant SPA details are also captured against sales and purchase transactions, ensuring that requirements cannot be silently downgraded on repeat orders. The architecture can also accommodate future agreement clauses such as CAF testing, impedance verification, and microsection requirements.

9. Controlled Sales and Purchase Order Creation
Compliance doesn’t stop when the customer accepts a quotation.

Odoo performs another validation before:

Sales Order Confirmation → Purchase Order Creation
Only the customer’s chosen commercial option is converted into an order, and the factory associated with the purchase order must remain compliance-approved and SPA-valid.

This prevents users from inadvertently purchasing from an unapproved supplier after the original quotation has been generated.

10. End-to-End WIP and Order Traceability
The implementation extends visibility beyond the quotation and procurement stages into production and fulfillment.

Odoo tracks operational milestones across:

Customer RFQ → Supplier RFQ → Technical Query → Engineering Query → Production → Inbound Transit → Warehouse → Outbound Shipment → Delivered → Closed
Technical Queries and Engineering Queries include timestamps and response times, allowing the business to identify bottlenecks and monitor turnaround.

Customers can also receive controlled access to selected quotation and WIP information through the Odoo portal without exposing internal supplier decisions or margins.

11. Integrated Quality, Non-Conformity and RMA Management
Inbound warehouse receipt was transformed from a simple stock movement into a quality-controlled process.

Mandatory inspections can cover:

• Package condition
• Quantity
• Content conformity

When an issue is detected, Odoo creates a non-conformity linked to the relevant sales order, purchase order, and factory.

The workflow can support:

• Accept with concession
• Replacement
• Return to supplier
• Hold for investigation

RMA information and root cause can remain attached to the same transaction chain. This creates stronger supplier accountability while providing the data required to build supplier quality scorecards over time.

12. Role-Based Approvals and Exception Management
Different teams interact with the system through clearly defined responsibilities.

Sales manages projects, configurations, and quotations. Compliance teams maintain rules and approve exceptions. Procurement can benchmark suppliers and create purchase orders only against approved factories. Quality and warehouse teams handle inbound inspection and non-conformance. Management controls sensitive exceptions and reviews KPIs.

Attempts to override blocked suppliers, downgrade SPA requirements, or bypass failed compliance rules require controlled approval and a recorded justification. This converts many previously human-dependent controls into system-enforced governance.

13. Management Dashboards and Operational KPIs
A dedicated reporting layer provides visibility into metrics such as:

• Compliance pass/fail rates
• Supplier approval by geography and certification
• Quotation turnaround time
• Customer option-selection patterns
• Standard pricing versus benchmark variance
• Margin realization
• TQ/EQ turnaround
• Supplier non-conformance rate
• Supplier quality
• On-time production
• Delivery performance

Management can therefore move from fragmented operational reporting toward a single view covering sales, compliance, procurement, quality and fulfillment.

Navabrind IT Solutions structured the implementation around five controlled phases, allowing the organization to establish strong foundations before adding increasingly sophisticated commercial and operational capabilities.

Phase 1 – Core Foundation
PCB projects, configurations, factory masters, technical capabilities and certifications.

Phase 2 – Compliance Governance
Compliance engine, SPA enforcement and customer/project-specific rules.

Phase 3 – Commercial Engine
Standard pricing, supplier benchmarking, freight calculation, normalization and multi-option quotations.

Phase 4 – Transaction & Operational Governance
Quote freezing, sales/purchase validations, WIP tracking, quality, non-conformity and RMA.

Phase 5 – Analytics & Adoption
Dashboards, customer portal, reporting, fine-tuning and user training.

The result is an architecture in which Odoo operates as an ERP transaction system and a controlled decision platform connecting PCB engineering requirements, supplier compliance, commercial decision-making, and operational execution.