Make to order manufacturing
From a wall of spreadsheets to a single Odoo system running sales, production, purchasing and accounts - implemented in two months.
Our client operates a large-scale make to order service, producing bespoke and customised items from artwork submitted by their customers. Make to order is operationally hard: production only starts when an order lands, so the schedule is constantly re-planned around supplier deliveries, artwork approvals, QC checks and capacity - with every order carrying design specifications and files that affect how it must be handled.
The business ran on spreadsheets. Sales, accounts, production and marketing each kept their own versions of the truth, shared by email and conversation, with duplicated effort throughout. Their market search for an off-the-shelf ERP found nothing that could handle their stock control, scheduling and accounting without forcing the business to bend to the software.
Open Digital directed the analysis, design and delivery that turned Odoo into the system they could not buy.
The work
Following a detailed analysis of the business, Odoo was configured to automate the make to order process end to end. The system generates a master production schedule automatically, factoring in people, machines, materials, capacity and promised dispatch dates - alerting staff and customers when an order is forecast to miss its promise, with drag and drop re-ordering for the production manager and individual task views for factory operators.
Purchasing, accounting and quality control were wired into the same process: supplier orders placed automatically by email, API or file transfer; invoicing driven by dispatches, including split orders; scrappage and returns reflected straight into accounting with draft re-purchase orders raised for approval. Implementation - training, data migration and process change - was planned week by week and delivered to a two-month go-live with minimal disruption.
The outcome
Four or five systems became one. There is a single version of the truth: sales can track orders, operators know what to make and to what specification, the production manager sees exactly what is running where and what comes next, and the owner sees the performance of the whole business in one place - sales by day and month, best-selling products, channel performance.
The finance team no longer creates invoices manually, and goods receipts generate purchase invoices automatically - if the invoice is missing, the goods have not arrived. Efficiency up, labour cost down, and a platform that extends as the business grows.