Company name: APATEQ – PWT S.A.
Location: Luxembourg
Industry: Water purification
Main Apps implemented: CRM, Sales, Purchase, Inventory, Quality, Manufacturing, Studio
Company Size: 30
Number of users: 15
Hosting Type: Odoo Online
Overview
APATEQ is a manufacturing company for compact water treatment systems with an engineering team that has decades of experience in complex water purification. After an increase in demand for water treatment systems in maritime applications, with very short customer deadlines, the company decided Excel sheets weren't sufficient enough. After analyzing different ERP providers in the market, APATEQ decided to go for Odoo thanks to its simplicity, low implementation cost, versatility and high customization potential. Since implementing Odoo, the company has reached a higher level of productivity, reducing costs and mistakes, and responsiveness towards both customers and suppliers.
Key Challenges and Requirements
APATEQ’s mission is to protect the environment and water conservation whilst satisfying the customer demand. Between 2018 and 2019 the company experienced a huge increase in the demand for water treatment systems in maritime applications, with very short customer deadlines. At the time, APATEQ lacked an efficient stock management system, so it was very difficult for them to follow up with all the sales orders and supply components for production in time, with minimal mistakes occurring. As the demand increased and APATEQ struggled to keep up, it was evident that the various Excel sheets weren't sufficient enough. The company decided it was time to implement an ERP solution as soon as possible.
Solution and Results
The implementation project began in 2019, and between 2019 and 2020, APATEQ evaluated different ERP providers (Dynamics NAV, ABAS, SAP, Rootstock, Infor). In the end, Odoo presented as the optimal solution for the manufacturer thanks to its simplicity, user friendliness, versatility, high customization potential, possibility to test for free and low implementation cost.
Beginning with Odoo Inventory, tests began in 2020 with the purpose of defining the database and collecting all the technical and cost information in one place. An important step in the company’s optimization occurred through the creation of the internal references and their assignment in well-defined warehouse locations. To complement this, Odoo Quality was also installed to develop a smarter and more efficient method of registering quality issues, occurring internally and after-sales, and to track the follow-up actions.
After a few months of testing, APATEQ was very satisfied with the two apps so in March 2021, they increased their number of users and added Sales and Purchase. Completing these actions enabled the company to properly complete orders in their database. Thanks to features such as tags and pivot tables, the company has been able to manage orders faster, more efficiently and they’ve been able to control costs and revenues month by month. In combination with Inventory, they’ve reduced errors in purchase orders thanks to proper identification of goods and their physical position in the stock.
In August 2021, in order to strengthen the sales, APATEQ decided to install Odoo CRM, a simple but powerful app that defined a new way for the manufacturer to search and manage potential leads and opportunities. In September 2021, the company also installed Odoo Manufacturing app to define their bills of material and work operations. They are still at the beginning stages with this app, but so far it seems very promising and complete. At the end of 2021, the company added Odoo Studio, for the modification of reports and field, and upgraded their one-year subscription to a multi-year contract.
Since implementing Odoo, APATEQ has really valued having one database where they’re able to collect important information such as internal references, pictures, specifications, datasheets, cost, supplier references, lots/serial numbers, etc. in one place. With the multiple locations feature, the manufacturer has been able to well organize their stock and mark all areas with barcodes. The Sales and Purchase app has provided control of incoming and outgoing products. Delivery slips and picking operations are handled more efficiently and can be traced. On top of that, they’re able to control inventory value on a monthly basis thanks to reports and Excel extractions. Overall, Odoo has brought a missing piece to APATEQ’s business process that was missing before. The company has reached higher levels of productivity, reduced costs and mistakes, and increased responsiveness towards both customers and suppliers.
About APATEQ
APATEQ is a manufacturing company of compact water treatment systems, with an engineering team having decades of experience in complex water purification. Using the most advanced technologies currently available on the globe, we offer on-site tailor-made solutions for the treatment of polluted water sources and produced water that has to be discharged or reused in respect of environmental compliances. Our systems can deal with waters coming from different industrial fields like oil wells, maritime sector, landfill sites and greywater plants. Our mission is the environment protection and water conservation, satisfying the customer demand.
APATEQ: Protecting the environment and water conservation with Odoo