In this presentation, I will share the journey of a leading Food Manufacturer of Bread, Snacks, and Tortillas in North America and how we leveraged Odoo ERP to streamline their operations. With decades of experience in the industry, the client faced significant challenges with mostly manual processes and disparate systems for accounting, invoicing, and distribution. Additionally, food traceability information and customer orders were managed through spreadsheets and paper records.

Our client had previously attempted to implement another big and popular ERP system but found it hard to implement. After several months of work with minimal results, they stopped the previous project. We will explore the customized solutions implemented with Odoo to integrate their systems, improve efficiency, and ensure comprehensive traceability.

Key factors driving success included effective change management and the strategic use of reports. Our implementation was straightforward thanks to Odoo's user-friendly interface. While we completed some customizations, we kept the system as close to the original as possible.

The main challenge was user adoption, as many employees were accustomed to traditional methods and reluctant to eliminate their spreadsheet controls. To address this, we defined multiple reports in the Dashboard app to illustrate missing work and explain the necessity of the new processes.

The scope of our project was comprehensive, covering make-to-order operations for several distribution centers. This included order receipt from retailers/restaurants/hotels, manufacturing planning, inventory validation, materials sourcing, ingredients receipt, manufacturing management, product distribution, and documenting every step of the process in specific accounting transactions for paying bills and invoicing customers.

This case study will provide valuable insights for businesses looking to optimize their processes using Odoo, highlighting practical applications, best practices, and strategies for managing change.