ANALYSIS OF THE ODOO SOFTWARE CAPABILITIES REGARDING PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT, MANUFACTURING EXECUTION SYSTEMS AND THEIR INTEGRATION

The second half of the 20th century have been marked for the advancements of computer technology in all aspects of production. The key feature of that statement is the undeniable truth that alongside the increased complexity allowed by computing power comes an ever increasing production of overwhelming amounts of information. From separate perspectives of the industrial landscape several systems were brewed by that sheer necessity for organization , automation and waste reduction focusing on that pool of useful data. ERP (from a managerial perspective), MES (from a production perspective) and more recently PLM (from a strategic development/redevelopment perspective) emerged as information solutions tackling this problem from different angles. These solutions, however effective, are always plagued by the fundamental incompatibility between the tools that implement those systems. This paper objectives revolve around analyzing the integration PLM and MES systems from a theoretical perspective and comment on the use of the Odoo software tool to implement said integration. The Odoo software was described in detail (regarding its use for manufacturing envirorment) icluding how it implements PLM and MES. Then, the software was subjected to the simulation of a fictional manufacturing firm devised in the molds of Industry 4.0. The company uses plastic injection molding as primary mean of production and uses additive manufacturing and fast prototyping as part of the business strategy.