This post was published in May 2016 and introduces a module built for Odoo V8 and V9. It does not work with current versions.
An electrical product contains circuits inside it, and in circuits like these the components — resistors, capacitors, semiconductors and so on — are managed by giving each a reference number. As Odoo stands, I gather there is no reference field on a BOM line; without reference numbers the components in an Odoo BOM cannot be matched against the parts on the circuit diagram, and checking takes an enormous amount of effort. For an electrical product, a reference number on the BOM line seems to me essential to adopting Odoo. Would a change to show a reference number on the BOM line be possible?
That question came up on the Odoo Japanese community, and looking into it, Odoo's standard BOM line had no spare field that would serve, so we built a module that adds one. For V8.
MRP BOM Line Reference: https://www.odoo.com/apps/modules/8.0/mrp_bom_line_ref/
It is a simple thing — a “Reference” field added to the right of the product — with no logic behind it at all, but what is good about Odoo is that a change like this can be made quickly.
As ever it is open source, so anyone who wants to improve on it should feel free. PRs are welcome too!
Added 3 June 2016: it now supports V9 as well. https://www.odoo.com/apps/modules/9.0/mrp_bom_line_ref/
A module that adds a reference field to BOM lines