How Kit BoM Works in Odoo 18 Manufacturing
By Braincuber Team
Published on February 24, 2026
Ridgeline Outdoor Gear sells camping equipment through their Odoo 18 eCommerce store. Their best-selling product is not a single item — it is the "Weekend Basecamp Kit," a bundle that includes a 4-person tent, two sleeping bags, a portable camp stove, a headlamp, and a first-aid pouch. For two years, the operations manager, Nate, handled this bundle manually. When a customer ordered the kit, someone in the warehouse had to look up a printed packing list, pull five separate items off different shelves, and pack them together. The problem was not just the extra labor. Inventory never matched up. The system showed 40 tents in stock, but 15 of them were already committed to kit orders that had not shipped yet. At least once a month, a customer got an "in stock" confirmation and then received a follow-up email saying one component was actually out.
When Nate discovered the Kit feature in Odoo 18's Manufacturing module, the fix was surprisingly simple. He created a Bill of Materials with the BoM type set to "Kit," listed all five components, and linked it to the Weekend Basecamp Kit product. From that point on, every time a customer ordered the kit, the delivery order automatically broke it down into its five individual components. Inventory deducted correctly at the component level. No more phantom stock, no more packing list printouts, and no more overselling. This guide walks through the entire setup.
What You Will Learn: What a Kit BoM type is and when to use it, how to set up component products, how to create a Bill of Materials with the Kit type, what happens when a kit is sold through the Sales module, how the delivery order breaks down into individual components, and how inventory and accounting journal entries are affected.
What Is a Kit in Odoo 18?
A kit is a product that consists of multiple individual components bundled together under a single product listing. The key distinction from a manufactured product is that a kit does not go through a manufacturing process. There is no work order, no production step, and no new finished product created in inventory. Instead, when a kit is sold, Odoo automatically explodes it into its individual parts at the delivery stage.
No Manufacturing Needed
Unlike "Manufacture This Product" BoMs, kits skip the production floor entirely. The components are picked and shipped as-is. Ridgeline does not assemble the camping gear — they ship each item in its own packaging inside one box.
Inventory Tracks Components
The kit itself has no stock level. Inventory is tracked at the component level. When someone orders the kit, Odoo deducts one tent, two sleeping bags, one camp stove, one headlamp, and one first-aid pouch from stock.
Components Sell Independently
Each component can also be sold on its own. Ridgeline sells the camp stove separately for $89 and the headlamp for $35. The same inventory feeds both individual sales and kit orders.
Prerequisites: Required Modules
The Kit feature lives inside the Manufacturing module, but to see the full workflow you need three modules installed:
| Module | Why It Is Needed |
|---|---|
| Manufacturing | Provides the Bill of Materials form and the Kit BoM type option |
| Sales | Allows you to create sales orders for the kit product and confirm them |
| Inventory | Manages component stock levels, delivery orders, and stock moves |
Step 1: Set Up the Component Products
Before building the kit, every component needs to exist as its own product in the database. Each component should be a Storable Product so that Odoo tracks its inventory. Enable both Can be Sold and Can be Purchased since these items are also sold individually and ordered from suppliers.
Here are the five components Ridgeline created for their Weekend Basecamp Kit:
Product Name | Type | Sale Price | Cost | Qty in Kit --------------------------|-----------|-----------|-------|---------- TrailMaster 4P Tent | Storable | $249.00 | $98 | 1 Alpine Rest Sleeping Bag | Storable | $119.00 | $42 | 2 CompactFlame Camp Stove | Storable | $89.00 | $31 | 1 LumenPro Headlamp | Storable | $35.00 | $12 | 1 QuickAid First-Aid Pouch | Storable | $24.00 | $8 | 1
Pro Tip: Notice that the kit includes 2 sleeping bags, not 1. When you add components to the BoM, you specify the quantity for each line. This is how Odoo knows to deduct 2 sleeping bags per kit order.
Step 2: Create the Kit Product
Now create the kit itself as a product. Ridgeline named theirs "Weekend Basecamp Kit" with a sale price of $499 (a bundled discount versus buying each item separately at $635). The product type does not matter much here because inventory is tracked at the component level, but Ridgeline uses Consumable since the kit itself is never stocked.
Pricing Strategy: The individual component prices total $635 (one tent + two sleeping bags + stove + headlamp + pouch). Ridgeline prices the kit at $499, a 21% discount. This discount drives bundle sales. In September alone, 62% of tent purchases came through the kit rather than standalone orders.
Step 3: Create the Bill of Materials (Kit Type)
This is the core step. The BoM is what tells Odoo that this product is a bundle of components and should be exploded into its parts when sold.
Select the Product
Click New to create a BoM. In the Product field, select "Weekend Basecamp Kit." The Reference auto-fills based on the product's internal reference.
Set BoM Type to Kit
In the BoM Type field, Odoo offers three options:
| BoM Type | What It Does | Use When |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacture This Product | Creates a manufacturing order to produce a finished product from raw materials | You need a production process (assembly, processing) |
| Kit | Bundles components under one product — no manufacturing, just packing and shipping | You sell pre-existing items together as a bundle |
| Subcontracting | Sends components to a third-party manufacturer who returns the finished product | You outsource production |
Select Kit. Set the Quantity to 1 (this means the component quantities you enter are per single kit).
Add Components
Under the Components tab, click Add a line for each item in the kit. Enter the product name and the quantity needed per kit:
| Component | Quantity | Unit Cost |
|---|---|---|
| TrailMaster 4P Tent | 1 | $98 |
| Alpine Rest Sleeping Bag | 2 | $42 |
| CompactFlame Camp Stove | 1 | $31 |
| LumenPro Headlamp | 1 | $12 |
| QuickAid First-Aid Pouch | 1 | $8 |
Review Structure & Cost
After saving, click the Structure & Cost smart button to see the complete BoM breakdown with total component cost. For Ridgeline's kit, the total component cost is $233 (98 + 42×2 + 31 + 12 + 8), and they sell it for $499, giving them a $266 margin per kit. You can also print this structure using the Print button.
Step 4: Sell the Kit Through the Sales Module
With the Kit BoM in place, selling the bundle works like selling any other product. The magic happens behind the scenes.
- Create a new sales order and select the customer
- In the Order Lines, add "Weekend Basecamp Kit" with a quantity of 1
- The order line shows only the kit product at $499 — the customer sees one item, not five
- Click Confirm to convert the quotation into a sales order
What Happens on the Delivery Order
Once confirmed, click the Delivery smart tab. The delivery order does not list "Weekend Basecamp Kit." Instead, it lists all five individual components with their quantities. The warehouse team sees exactly what to pick:
Product | Demand | Reserved | Done --------------------------|--------|----------|----- TrailMaster 4P Tent | 1 | 1 | - Alpine Rest Sleeping Bag | 2 | 2 | - CompactFlame Camp Stove | 1 | 1 | - LumenPro Headlamp | 1 | 1 | - QuickAid First-Aid Pouch | 1 | 1 | -
Use the Check Availability button to verify that all components are in stock. If any component is unavailable, Odoo flags it and you can trigger replenishment from the Inventory module.
Step 5: Accounting Impact
When the delivery is validated, Odoo creates journal entries for each individual component, not for the kit product. In the Accounting module under Journal Entries, you will see:
| Account | Debit | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Stock Interim (Delivered) | $233 | — |
| Stock Valuation — TrailMaster Tent | — | $98 |
| Stock Valuation — Sleeping Bag (×2) | — | $84 |
| Stock Valuation — Camp Stove | — | $31 |
| Stock Valuation — Headlamp | — | $12 |
| Stock Valuation — First-Aid Pouch | — | $8 |
Each component's Stock Valuation account is credited (asset decrease), and the Stock Interim account is debited. This gives the accounting team accurate COGS per component, which feeds into margin analysis.
Best Practices from Ridgeline
Price the Kit Below Individual Total
The whole point of a kit is to incentivize bundle purchases. Ridgeline's 21% discount ($499 vs $635) drives higher order values and moves slow-selling accessories like the first-aid pouch. If you price the kit at the same total as individual products, there is no reason for customers to choose it.
Check Component Stock Before Promotions
Before running a sale on the kit, Nate always checks each component's stock level. One missing component blocks the entire kit shipment. He learned this the hard way during a Black Friday promotion when they oversold kits because the headlamp was out of stock but the kit had not been flagged.
Use Structure & Cost for Margin Reviews
The Structure & Cost report shows the true cost of the kit based on component costs. If a supplier raises the price of sleeping bags from $42 to $52, the kit cost jumps from $233 to $253 and the margin shrinks. Nate reviews this report monthly and adjusts kit pricing or switches suppliers proactively.
Set Reorder Rules on Components
Since inventory is tracked at the component level, set minimum stock rules (reorder points) on each component individually. Ridgeline has a reorder rule that triggers a purchase order when any kit component drops below 20 units. This prevents kit orders from being blocked by a single out-of-stock item.
Summary
Key Takeaways: The Kit BoM type in Odoo 18 lets you sell multiple components as a single product without manufacturing. Set up each component as a storable product, create the bundle product, then build a Bill of Materials with BoM type "Kit" and list all components with quantities. When sold, the delivery order automatically explodes the kit into individual items for warehouse picking. Inventory deductions happen at the component level, and accounting journal entries credit each component's stock valuation separately. Components remain individually sellable alongside the kit. Use the Structure & Cost report to monitor margins as component costs change.