Continuous product improvement

Continuous product improvement is the practice of steadily improving a product or process based on feedback, following methods such as kaizen, lean or six sigma. In Odoo Manufacturing, this typically follows a four-step cycle: identify problems, suggest improvements, implement changes and review the results, drawing on several connected apps.

Identify problems

The Helpdesk app collects feedback from customers through email, live chat or website forms, which a support team reviews and can escalate as a quality alert. The Quality app collects feedback from within the business, using quality control points to prompt regular checks, or letting employees raise a quality alert directly.

Suggest improvements

A quality alert’s Corrective Actions and Preventive Actions tabs record how to fix the current issue and prevent it recurring. The PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) app can then be used to test the idea, using an engineering change order (ECO) to draft a new version of the product’s bill of materials (BoM).

Implement strategies

Once an ECO’s changes are reviewed and the ECO is moved to its approved stage, the updated BoM becomes the version used automatically for new manufacturing orders. If a product already sold to a customer needs a fix, the Field Service app can schedule an onsite visit to address it directly.

Review actions

Reviewing closes the loop: Helpdesk and Quality continue collecting feedback on the change, and the Surveys app can be used to proactively ask customers who received the updated product for their views.

Example: improving a coat rack

A manufacturer receives a Helpdesk ticket reporting that a coat rack falls over when more than five coats are hung on it.