Location/Region: Grand Rapids, MI
Industry: Cat furniture manufacturing
Apps implemented: Inventory, Purchase, Attendance, Manufacturing, Employee and Knowledge
Software
Replaced: Spreadsheets
Company size: >12
Hosting type: Odoo Online
When your customers have whiskers and claws, creativity isn’t optional, it’s survival. For Catastrophic Creations, a U.S.-based company designing modular wall-mounted cat furniture, Odoo became the purrfect solution to organize their growing business. What began as a small passion project in a cramped apartment has evolved into an innovative e-commerce operation trusted by cat lovers around the world, all powered by the flexibility of Odoo’s integrated apps.
Catastrophic Creations was founded 13 years ago when CEO Mike Wilson and his partner couldn’t find modern and space-saving furniture for their two cats. “We started building things for our pets,” Mike recalls. “At the time, there wasn’t really anything like it on the market.”
Their first prototypes (hammocks, bridges, and walkways) quickly captured the imagination of cat owners seeking stylish alternatives to bulky cat trees. Today, their modular designs can transform any wall into a feline playground, combining clever engineering with modern aesthetics. With each generation, the products have evolved to become fully modular, allowing endless combinations to fit small apartments or larger living space.
“It’s nice to be able to see in real time how cats are reacting to our designs, what’s working and what’s not. We’re now on the fourth generation of our furniture.”
The road before Odoo: Scaling Challenges and Manual Chaos
Before implementing Odoo, Catastrophic Creations managed everything manually for nearly five years. Orders were printed on paper, attendance and hours tracked by hand, and data scattered across spreadsheets and files.
"For the first five years, we didn’t have an ERP system. Everything was done really manually. Not having that level of visibility was a big stopping point for us.”
As the company’s product line expanded, especially after introducing modular furniture with hundreds of possible combinations, manual systems became unsustainable. Tracking purchase orders, manufacturing timelines, and employee hours became complex and error-prone.
They briefly explored other software options but found them too fragmented or costly compared to Odoo’s integrated approach. Without a unified system, the team couldn’t easily link production data to costs or performance. That lack of insight slowed decision-making and made it difficult to pivot quickly during busy seasons like Black Friday.
Efficiency Unleashed: Odoo at Work
When the company shifted its model in 2020, outsourcing part of its manufacturing while focusing on in-house assembly, Odoo entered the picture.
"It was actually someone who used to work in our woodshop. He was really into IT and helped introduce us to Odoo and build out the coding for it."
From there, Catastrophic Creations began integrating multiple Odoo apps to cover every part of its operations. Odoo’s Inventory, Purchase, Attendance, Manufacturing (MOs), and Knowledge modules now run the company’s daily operations. Each app contributes to smoother workflows, better data visibility, and smarter decisions:
- The Inventory module became essential once production expanded beyond a single workshop. “With so many different SKUs and modular pieces, being able to track where inventory is throughout the shop is really helpful,” Mike adds.
- Now, teams can ensure older stock is used first, reducing waste and confusion, a crucial advantage for their small but busy crew of around 12 people.
- Attendance tracking, once handled entirely on paper, is now fully digital. Staff schedules, hours, and seasonal hires, essential during the busy holiday rush, are seamlessly managed through Odoo, cutting down administrative time and errors.
- The Purchase module has been another game changer. It automatically compares current supplier prices with previous orders, helping the company detect price fluctuations across its network of manufacturers.
- “The purchase module has been really nice because it can easily track what we’ve been paying for stuff previously. That helps us keep an extra eye on if manufacturers are raising prices," Mike shares.
- In the back office, Odoo’s Knowledge app keeps documentation organized and accessible. Internal guides, training documents, and operational notes are stored in one place, improving consistency across the team.
"Overall, Odoo brought structure and insight. Doing payroll is much more efficient: before, we had things in a hundred different places. Now we collect the data in one system and know it’s accurate. That’s been a huge win for us.”
This centralized visibility allows Mike’s team to make more informed decisions about production times, staffing, and purchasing, all crucial for a business where efficiency directly impacts delivery timelines and customer satisfaction.
Building for the Future: for Cats and Humans Alike
Looking ahead, Catastrophic Creations is preparing to launch new wall-mounted “cat wall trees” designed for different wall structures, including wood and metal studs, to simplify installation for customers. The company is also developing packaging for retail distribution, bringing their exclusive products into physical stores for the first time.
"We’re working on layouts that can connect in four or five different ways so customers don’t have to do extra homework about their walls. And we’re trying to get a few of our items into retail stores.”
On the digital side, they’re expanding their Odoo use. With the help of a freelancer, they’re fine-tuning reporting features to automatically generate monthly productivity reports. These dashboards will help them quickly see whether operational changes are improving efficiency.
Catastrophic Creations’ journey shows how even a small creative business can scale efficiently with the right tools. By unifying their processes in Odoo, they turned scattered data into strategic insight, saving time and empowering smarter decisions, all while making life better for cats and their humans. Discover how Odoo can help your business evolve, just like Catastrophic Creations did.
