Location/Region: Lima, PE
Industry: Industrial Thermal Manufacturing
Apps implemented: Inventory, CRM, Project, Sales, Accounting, Employees, Timesheet
Software
Replaced: SIIGO, Excel, AutoCAD
Size of the company: <20
Hosting type: Odoo Online
Manufacturing custom industrial furnaces, managing long-term projects, and coordinating operations across multiple countries is no simple task. For Cabieses, a Peruvian company with 17 years of experience in industrial thermal solutions, Odoo has become a key platform to structure operations, connect processes, and support regional growth, in a business where every project is unique.
Cabieses specializes in the manufacturing of furnaces and combustion systems, as well as heat recovery units, energy exchangers, and tailor-made thermal solutions. The company has around 20 employees and operates from a 2,000 m² industrial plant in Lima, where it designs and manufactures highly customized equipment for various industries.
The company began as a personal venture by its General Manager, José Antonio Cabieses, who decided to become independent and continue his family’s tradition of manufacturing industrial furnaces. In its early days, the company relied primarily on technical expertise and experience rather than on a formal business structure.
Today, Cabieses is part of the Kalfrisa Group, following a partnership with the Spanish company of the same name, which holds nearly a 50% stake. This integration has enabled the company to expand both its portfolio and its geographic reach, manufacturing and marketing incineration furnaces for organic, hazardous, and hospital waste, as well as human and pet cremation furnaces, and furnaces for ceramics, agro-industrial drying, steel galvanizing, metal heat treatments, painting, and industrial drying.
As a result of this evolution, the company primarily serves the Peruvian market but already has projects and installations in Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and El Salvador, including furnaces currently being assembled in Chile.
"Each furnace, each machine, each project we undertake is different. Everything we do is highly customized."
Before Odoo: An Operation Sustained by
Excel and Accounting Software
For many years, Cabieses’ management relied on basic tools. In its early stages, the company operated with Excel, AutoCAD for design, and a Peruvian accounting software that maintained financial order but did not include inventory management modules.
As operations grew and inventory management became more necessary, the company added a second software: SIIGO, a Colombian accounting system that offered more functionalities, such as inventory, banking, cash management, imports, and asset management. However, it remained primarily an accounting software rather than a comprehensive ERP.
The arrival of the pandemic marked a turning point. The server hosting SIIGO’s database had to be relocated to a private home. This situation revealed the need for a more flexible, accessible solution designed for remote work.
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"We had to move the server to our home, and all the network functionality we had was lost."
A Digital Turning Point to Structure Operations
The first contact with Odoo was almost accidental. José Antonio Cabieses saw an Odoo billboard while driving, decided to reach out via LinkedIn, and shortly afterwards received a demonstration from California. He found the proposal appealing and decided to migrate from SIIGO to Odoo.
Implementation began around 2023, and the company recently renewed its subscription for an additional three years, a clear sign of confidence in the platform. From the beginning, Cabieses opted for a selective implementation, using only the modules that addressed its real needs.
Currently, the company uses Odoo to manage inventory, maintain accounting records for purchases and sales, administer cash and banks with bank reconciliations, and handle customer and vendor invoicing. It also manages imports by recording landed costs and uses Project as the operational core.
Additionally, the company uses Timesheets to value the labor hours invested in each project, CRM to track sales opportunities, the Employees module to record contracts and employee photos, and Payroll exclusively as a system to track absences, vacations, and leaves; information that is later shared with an external provider for payroll processing.
One of the greatest benefits has been the web and mobile interface, representing a significant leap forward compared to previous systems.
The Project module, in particular, has become a key tool, since for Cabieses each furnace is a project, allowing costs, labor hours, and material consumption to be centralized.
CRM remains a strategic component due to its integration with the rest of the workflow, from the initial sales opportunity to invoicing.
Inventory management has also significantly improved compared to previous systems, thanks to a more dynamic, visual, and user-friendly product interface.
Given the high level of customization of each project, Odoo is not currently used for fixed bills of materials or to fully anticipate production costs. Materials are recorded as consumables as the project progresses, and the ERP’s focus is more on organization, traceability, and integration than on full industrial productivity automation.
What’s Next: Further Growth and Deeper Implementation
Looking ahead, Cabieses has ambitious plans both from a business and technological perspective. On the business side, the company aims to grow across Latin America, develop larger-scale projects, and consolidate its Peruvian plant as a strategic production hub, potentially targeting Asian markets by leveraging the country’s trade agreements and direct access to the Pacific Ocean.
From a technological standpoint, the objective is to deepen Odoo’s implementation, especially in the accounting area, to better reflect margins, movements, and financial results. To achieve this, the company plans to align the work of its external accounting provider with Odoo and evaluate a migration to Odoo.sh, enabling greater technical adaptability.
José Antonio also envisions incorporating more advanced enhancements with Odoo Studio and, in the future, integrating a payroll module adapted to Peruvian legislation, ideally with the support of an integration partner.
Cabieses’ experience demonstrates that Odoo can adapt even to highly customized industrial models, offering organization, integration, and visibility without imposing rigidity. If your company faces similar challenges (whether in manufacturing, engineering, energy, or other sectors), Odoo can support you at every stage of growth.
