Ceramic manufacturing around Morbi has two characteristics that generic ERP does not expect. Production is graded after firing, so a single batch becomes several sellable qualities at different prices. And fuel is not an overhead footnote — it is one of the largest variable costs in the business. Any system that ignores either will produce numbers your team does not believe.
Record the grade split at the kiln
The most valuable single change is recording output as a split: premium, commercial and reject quantities against the same lot, with size, shade and calibre retained. That one decision fixes several downstream problems at once — stock accuracy by grade, honest available-to-promise for the sales team, and costing that reflects what was actually sellable rather than what was fired.
Put fuel where it belongs
Allocating gas or fuel consumption to output produced in the same period gives cost per square metre by size and grade. It is an allocation rather than a measurement, and it is still far better than a monthly overhead line that hides which sizes lose money. Once that exists, pricing conversations change. This is the core of the model we use on ceramic ERP projects in Morbi.
Shade and calibre discipline prevents returns
Mixed-lot dispatch is expensive twice: the return, and the relationship. Holding stock at shade and calibre level, and enforcing it at picking, is ordinary inventory management capability — it simply has to be configured rather than assumed.
Export and dispatch planning
Container planning is only as good as the graded stock behind it. When load planning runs against real availability, packing lists, inspection status and export documents can all be generated from the same data instead of rebuilt in a spreadsheet each time. The wider capability set is on the manufacturing ERP page.
What is worth automating
After go-live, the highest-value business automation in a tile plant is usually reporting and approvals: a daily kiln output and grade summary, an alert when reject percentage crosses your threshold, and dealer order acknowledgements that do not require a phone call.
Odoo or custom?
For most Morbi plants, Odoo covers purchase, sales, inventory and finance well, with grading and fuel allocation added as a costing layer. That is a smaller, cheaper project than a ground-up build, and we will say clearly when a process genuinely needs something else — see ERP consulting for how that assessment works.
Next steps
Start with the ERP readiness assessment to see whether your master data can support this, or the project cost calculator for an indicative range. Related clusters: engineering and casting in Rajkot and brass in Jamnagar. To talk it through, use the KoderClub AI assistant on any page or book a consultation.