The Company 

The seed of Mindo Chocolate Makers was born in 2004 when owner Barbara Wilson visited the tiny town of Mindo, in the Cloud Forest of the Ecuadorian Andes. Struck by the quality of the cacao beans grown nearby, Barbara began to experiment with producing chocolate and by 2009 became one of the first craft chocolate producers in the United States. 

Although the company has grown, its connection to the Ecuadorian beans remains a fundamental part of its operation. Mindo Chocolate Makers now has six employees but the demand for its chocolate continues to grow, with more and more sales every day. 

The business - along with its sister company in Ecuador - works across multiple locations with team members sometimes based on different continents. 

The Challenge 

As the business rapidly expanded, its systems and processes stood still. Ordering, stock management and sales processes were a disconnected mixture of Excel, Google Sheets, Slack, email, QuickBooks and Shopify, meaning it was almost impossible to have the detailed management information needed to run a modern business. 

High quality ingredients are a fundamental part of Mindo Chocolate, but without a suitable inventory system, some were going to waste, meaning losses of valuable assets. Additionally, as the business continued to grow, wholesale orders were becoming a more and more important element and managing these was becoming a challenge. 

In 2022 Barbara approached OCTIC with the following brief: “Propose a strategy to integrate existing systems and streamline business functions across locations and organisations.” 

The Solution 

Working alongside the team at Mindo Chocolate Makers, OCTIC designed a strategy which could be implemented in its sites in the USA but could eventually be rolled out in Ecuador. 

The OCTIC team carried out extensive business analysis to understand every part of the business and implemented Odoo’s Purchase, Inventory, Manufacturing, Sales and Shopify modules. These served to both streamline internal processes and create a tight integration between back office systems and the eCommerce front end. 

As part of the process we worked closely with Mindo Chocolate Makers’ staff to support them with training and development on how to make the system part of their day to day operations, and to realise a return on investment on the system as quickly as possible after implementation.

The Impact 

The new Odoo system gives Mindo Chocolate Makers a single point of truth, holding all of its management information in one place and giving them the ability to access it in real time with the click of a button. 

The Purchasing module gives the ability to achieve best value across a range of suppliers, and the Manufacturing module streamlines internal processes and gives a true reflection of the cost to produce individual products. 

As a whole, the new Odoo system gives Mindo Chocolate Makers a strong foundation for future expansion into new global markets, and the capacity to expand and take advantage of renewed demand for high quality chocolate. 

Looking forward, the system has the potential to be rolled out to Mindo Chocolate Makers’ sister company in Ecuador, meaning closer integration and standardisation of processes. In Barbara’s words, Odoo is the foundation that will allow them to “take a giant leap” and scale up. 

The Final Word 

“Implementing Odoo would have been too big of a project for me to take on alone. We really needed somebody to guide us through the process, and Octic knows how Odoo works. 

“It's like taking a giant leap over a canyon. In order to get to the next level you have to make another investment - another leap - and Odoo is one piece of the puzzle to help us jump to the next level.” 

Barbara Wilson - CEO Mindo Chocolate 

https://www.mindochocolate.com

The Company 

Spiderbeam was established in Germany in 2003 by Cornelius Paul, a renowned amateur radio user and inventor. Specialising in masts, custom antennas, parts and spares, the company ships products all around the world, working with B2B clients including the United Nations, World Food Programme and the International Red Cross, plus B2C customers in the global community of HAM Radio Amateurs. 

Combining its innovative, quality products with a desire to provide a high standard of customer service, Spiderbeam is a labour of love born out of the enthusiasm of its 8-strong team of engineers, inventors and radio operators. 

The Challenge 

From day one, Octic supported Spiderbeam with its first website and ecommerce system. In 2019 the decision was taken to retire xtCommerce and invest in a new ERP system which was future proof and could enable the next level of growth. 

Spiderbeam has a portfolio of unique products made up of hundreds of specialist parts. Due to the international nature of the business, orders often need to cross multiple borders all with their own customs requirements. 

The Spiderbeam team are experts specialising in radio and electrical engineering, so they needed some extra IT training, support and guidance to make their vision of digital transformation a reality. 

The Solution 

Octic carried out an in-depth analysis of existing data, business processes and products to produce a functional and technical spec documenting everything the new system needed to achieve. At the same time we coached the Spiderbeam team, helping them to understand new possibilities which Odoo could enable. We used the Odoo Quickstart Methodology and worked closely with an Odoo consultant who supported the whole project process. 

Phase 1 saw Odoo’s Purchase, Inventory and Manufacturing apps being implemented to start the transformation. This brought Spiderbeam immediate benefits, making the process of managing its extensive stock of specialist parts simpler and more efficient. 

In the second Phase Sales, Invoice, Website and eCommerce apps were implemented. 

To meet specific requirements we created custom modules. A shipping price module frequently updated with the latest shipping prices, provides customers an instant, accurate quote of their cart even before they complete checkout. 

We also developed extensive custom pdf order documentation. Special customs documentation eliminates the need for the team to complete multiple, time consuming shipping documents by hand.

We also worked alongside Spiderbeam’s legal advisers to ensure compliance with German and EU law including GDPR. We also provided detailed user training, and live technical support in the production phase. 

The Impact 

The new Odoo system went into production on 1st January 2023 with no interruption to Spiderbeam’s sales, order and logistics processes. 20 years of existing business processes were successfully migrated and transformed into the core of Odoo. 

Efficiencies and new possibilities have already been realised in inventory and manufacturing, as well as in customs and order documentation. Odoo Enterprise hosted on the Odoo.sh hosting and development platform is fast, flexible and reliable and will serve as Spiderbeams the foundation for the next 20 years of growth. 

The Final Word 

“We started our online shop in 2003 as a one-man show and since then have continuously developed the business. Octic was just the right partner to help us find the appropriate IT and website solution at any given point in time - both from a budget and business development point of view. 20 years later we continue to rely on Octic to run our business.” Cornelius Paul - Director Spiderbeam GmbH 

https://shop.spidebeam.com