Find out how an international vehicle engineering service supplier transformed their operations with Odoo 16, leaving behind spreadsheet-based manufacturing processes to streamline production, boost purchase efficiency, optimize inventory picking, and seamlessly integrate crucial features for precise financial reporting.
About the customer
Our customer is a leading automotive engineering product supplier, spread across five distinct business units across Germany and southern Spain. They deliver exceptional engineering solutions globally, guiding their clients throughout the entire vehicle development process and subsequent testing.
When they chose to adopt Odoo to optimize their entire manufacturing operations, our customer set out to overhaul a complex and out-of-date way of working. Odoo allowed them to optimize a string of previously disconnected processes and minimize critical inefficiencies like production errors or purchasing delays.
Industry: Manufacturing
Operating in: DE, ES
Revenue: +50M€ gross / year
Employees: 151-250
Project Fact Sheet:
Odoo CRM
Odoo Sales
Odoo Inventory
Odoo Manufacturing
Odoo Purchase
Odoo Projects
Odoo Expenses
Odoo Timesheets
Odoo Sign
Odoo Website
Odoo Quality
Odoo Time Off
Odoo Planning
Odoo Approvals
Odoo Accounting
Odoo Employees & ContractThe challenge – fragmented manufacturing operations and outdated processes
Our customer sourced Odoo to revamp their ineffective manufacturing process. Their ultimate aim was to optimize complex approaches to production management, automate and integrate processes within the greater scope of product manufacturing, and integrate existing systems and processes to achieve a seamless automatic data flow.
Our customer faced challenges that required prompt and practical solutions:
- Inefficient Manufacturing Process: Our customer’s reliance on spreadsheet-based manufacturing operations led to functional inefficiencies, as it created high manual overhead and operating cost, was prone to error and overcomplicated a process that could be streamlined with an adequate system.
- Purchase Delays: Existing purchase management systems were inefficient and led to a disjointment between purchase and production, which resulted in delays for our customer’s entire manufacturing process.
- Lack of Inventory Automation: Lack of automation in inventory processes resulted in time-consuming and error-prone procedures related to picking and order-to-plan production.
- IFRS Integration Gap: Seamless integration of IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) was crucial for our customer to ensure precise and compliant financial reporting, addressing regulatory and transparency requirements.
The solution – employing Odoo 16 for effective end-to-end manufacturing process optimization
In order to overcome our client’s operational challenges, we leveraged the comprehensive capabilities of Odoo 16. This allowed us to overhaul their entire manufacturing process management and optimize existing workflows within their operational scope.
Making the most of Odoo, we set out to automate, optimize and customize processes related to their manufacturing management – from procurement, to production, and inventory. Employing Odoo as both a driver for change and a platform to consolidate existing software and tools, our customer saw benefits in modernized and simplified processes and leveraged system integrations for facilitated data flow.
1. Implementation of Odoo Enterprise apps
Odoo’s application suite was the cornerstone of this project’s success. We tapped into different functionalities of Odoo 16 apps such as CRM, Sales, Inventory, MRP, Purchase, Project, Expenses, Timesheets, Sign, Website, Quality, Time Off, Planning, Approvals, Employees & Contract and Accounting & Invoicing, propelling our customer to achieve the following:
- Efficient Production Planning: BoM (Bill of Materials) based production was implemented to streamline production planning processes.
- Automated Procurement: Purchase automation rules (MTO – Make to Order) were put in place to optimize and automate the procurement process, reducing delays.
- Customized Production Reports: Individual reports were created for production orders to provide detailed insights and enhance decision-making.
- IFRS-Compliant Accounting Structure: A customized structure was developed for project and accounting to align with the required IFRS 16 (International Financial Reporting Standards), ensuring compliance and access to specific reporting.
- User-Friendly Self-Service Portal: A self-service portal for non-Odoo users to efficiently track their time on assigned projects was created to improve project management and collaboration.
2. Seamless Odoo integrations with 3rd-party systems
Taking note of our client’s reliance on existing systems and data, we smoothly integrated their former IT solutions with Odoo:
| P&I Loga: We successfully implemented an interface that integrated our customer’s existing HR system with Odoo for seamless import of existing timesheets and time-related employee data and export of project time and resource allocation. |
| GetMyInvoices: Integrating the automated document management software GetMyInovices into Odoo, allowed our customer to get a grip on their invoice management and significantly reduce manual workload. |
| Think-Cell: We leveraged our customer’s previous usage of a Microsoft Office add-in that enables Excel automation to better sustain their migration from spreadsheet-based production management to a full Odoo environment. |
| LucaNet: We facilitated the connection between Odoo and financial management software LucaNet for our customer to ensure and meet the standards of necessary compliance requirements. |
The result – streamlining production and financial compliance
Our client realized concrete outcomes as soon as they adopted Odoo into their daily operations: of Odoo into their daily operations yielded tangible results for our customer:
- Streamlined Production: Our customer optimized their production processes by smoothly transitioning from complex spreadsheet-based lists to Odoo’s Manufacturing app. Further as a result of implementing BoM-based production planning and individual production reports, our customer managed to increase efficiency and accuracy in both execution and subsequent monitoring.
- Efficient Procurement: The implementation of inventory and MTO reordering rules in Odoo has led our customer to sustain more efficient purchasing practices, reducing the risk of running out of raw materials and preventing any consequent delays.
- Enhanced Financial Oversight: A thorough audit of the accounting and project controlling processes, as well as the creation of structures to successfully uphold IFRS standards has reflected itself into improved financial transparency and control abilities for our customer.
Seamless Integration: Our customer successfully implemented an interface between Odoo and their existing HR software. Additionally, they optimally integrated financial and process management softwares to facilitate smooth data exchange with their new Odoo environment.
