We’ve summed up everything most interesting and relevant from Odoo Experience 2025 – especially for the logistics industry and 3PL companies.

If you run a 3PL, you manufacture nothing and sell nothing – yet your operations keep global commerce moving. You receive, store, prepare, and deliver stock for hundreds of clients who may lack space in their inventory warehouse or need local fulfillment in foreign markets. 

This article explains how the Odoo Warehouse Management System  –  or simply shows what a warehouse management system in Odoo is and how it solves the core 3PL challenges: real-time client visibility, precise traceability, fast execution (with barcodes), and smart invoicing tied to actual handling and storage. 

Why 3PL Operations Are Hard and Where Odoo Helps 

Daily life in a 3PL looks like choreography: 

  • Trucks arrive with pallets from multiple manufacturers. 
  • Goods are unloaded, sometimes repacked, and pass quality checks. 
  • Crucially, the stock belongs to your clients, not you – every product, lot, and pallet must be traceable and visible per owner. 

Odoo inventory management addresses four pain points: 

  1. Accurate tracking of receipts, storage moves, repacks, and deliveries; 
  2. Client-level visibility (owner-based stock views and a client portal); 
  3. High-speed execution (Barcode app + guided flows); 
  4. Revenue assurance through fee-rate-based Odoo warehouse management invoicing.

The Odoo WMS Building Blocks for 3PL 

1) Stock by Client via the Owner Field (Odoo 19) 

Assign an Owner to products and moves. You can list products and on-hand quantities by customer (e.g., Pantino: 40 shampoos, 140 soaps) and drill into lots, pallets, and historical moves.

This is foundational for a 3PL and differentiates an Odoo warehouse management system from vanilla inventory tools. 

odoo stock 1 wms

2) Two-Step Receipts & Deliveries 

Configure incoming/outgoing shipments in two steps (e.g., receipt + put-away; pick + ship). This reflects how real warehouses work – accept, QC, then put to location; later pick, pack, and ship. 

odoo inventory wms 2

3) Locations + Fee Rates 

Define storage areas (e.g., Ground, High-Bay, Refrigerated) and attach fee rates. Later, your invoicing can multiply fee rates by occupied packages/days to produce auditable bills. 

odoo fee rate

4) Barcode-Driven Execution 

With the Barcode app, operators scan products, lots/serials, and locations. It’s faster, reduces human error, and provides a clean audit trail – critical when handling client-owned stock. 

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End-to-End Example: Receipt → Packaging → Put-Away 

A client orders storage for 20 shampoos and 60 soaps, with this instruction: 

  • Box 1: 20 shampoos 
  • Box 2–3: 30 soaps each 
  • Place all three boxes on one pallet 

In Odoo inventory management, you: 

  1. Create a receipt (client = Pantino). new receipt
  2. Add products and quantities; use Put in Pack to create Boxes 1–3 and then a parent Pallet container.
    product quantities
  3. Assign lot numbers. assign lots
  4. Validate the move and pass quality checks.
    validate move pass checks
  5. Process the put-away to a Ground location.
    destination location
  6. The pallet’s container ID now ties every inner box and lot to storage costing and later billing. 

This flow also illustrates Odoo transfer between warehouses when goods must be moved between sites – Odoo supports inter-warehouse transfers with the same owner/lot traceability. 

Kitting for Delivery: BOM-Backed Picks 

A reseller orders three Energy Pack kits with a predefined Bill of Materials: 

1 energy bar + 3 hydrate powders + 2 sport gels + 1 packaging. 

In Odoo, you: 

  • Define the Bills of Materials (BOM) for “Energy Pack”.
    BoM
  • Create a delivery picking for 3 kits; Odoo expands components automatically.
    delivery picking
  • Use the Barcode view to scan each component and its lots; Put in Pack into one pallet; then validate and ship.
    barcode
    barcode product scan

This is classic warehouse management Odoo behavior: simple UI for complex, multi-client logistics. 

Client Portal: Real-Time Ownership & Self-Service 

Clients log into the portal to see: 

  • On-hand stock with owner scoping (products, lots, pallets/containers) 
  • Invoices (paid/outstanding) with online payment options
    invoices client portal
  • A communication log for each document 

This eliminates spreadsheets and long email threads – your customers get the live truth. 

Smart Invoicing: From Operations to Revenue 

3PL billing is messy without automation. Odoo brings it together: 

  • Storage report: packages/day per location category (e.g., Ground vs. High-Bay) 
  • Handling (“manutention”) report: total moves (receipts, picks, put-aways, transfers) 
  • Quality report: count of checks performed
    odoo storage report

Filter by client and time window, then populate an invoice template in seconds: 

  • Storage (Ground): 13 package-days 
  • Storage (High-Bay): 9 package-days 
  • Handling: 10 transfers 
  • Extra Quality Checks: 4 
  • Optional Odoo transport management line items (e.g., DHL freight) 

Confirm and send – revenue captured, fully auditable. 

Subscriptions for Reserved Space 

Some clients want guarantees (e.g., “reserve 50 pallets monthly”). In Subscriptions, set a recurring plan (monthly/yearly), quantity (pallets or m²), and rate. Odoo auto-generates and sends invoices – perfect for peak seasons and long-term contracts. 

subscriptions

What This Means for a 3PL 

  • Speed: Barcode workflows shorten dock-to-stock and pick-to-ship cycles. 
  • Clarity: Owner-scoped stock ends disputes (“Whose pallet is that?”). 
  • Cashflow: Fee-rate-driven invoicing turns activity into revenue with near-zero admin. 
  • Scalability: Multi-warehouse, multi-location, and inter-company flows keep you future-proof. 

In practice, this is Odoo 3PL done right: a single source of truth from receiving to billing. 

Quick FAQ

Q: What is Warehouse Management System in Odoo? 

A: If you’re asking “what is warehouse management system in odoo”, it’s the set of Odoo apps (Inventory, Barcode, Manufacturing, Accounting, Subscriptions, etc.) that delivers end-to-end Odoo warehouse management system capabilities: receipts, picks, put-aways, transfers, owner-based stock, lots/serials, barcodes, and billing tied to fee rates. 

Q: Can Odoo handle inter-site logistics? 

A: Yes. Odoo transfer between warehouses is native. You can orchestrate inter-warehouse moves with full owner/lot traceability and barcodes. 

Q: Is Odoo just inventory, or full logistics? 

A: It’s more than inventory. Odoo warehouse management covers WMS, plus integrations for Odoo transport management (carriers/labels), manufacturing/kitting, quality, and accounting – giving 3PLs a single operational and financial spine. 

When to Choose Odoo WMS for Your 3PL 

Choose Odoo if you need: 

  • Owner-level stock control for many clients 
  • Barcode-first execution and multi-warehouse orchestration 
  • Contracted fee rates mapped directly to invoices 
  • A client portal with real-time visibility and payments 
  • Extensibility into kitting/assembly, quality, and financials 

Talk to Smarttek Solutions 

We implement Odoo WMS end-to-end for 3PLs: process design, barcode flows, owner-based inventory, fee-rate billing, and integrations with carriers and accounting. 

Question: Which part of your current 3PL flow creates the most revenue leakage – storage, counting, handling, or transport pass-throughs? 

Let’s fix it with an implementation blueprint tailored to your warehouses and SLAs.

Ready to transform your 3PL productivity with Odoo?
Our Odoo consultants design and implement comprehensive 3PL workflows, including barcode operations, owner-based inventory, and automated invoicing.
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Odoo Team