Location/Region: Livermore, CA
Industry: Supplies - Safety/Construction
Apps implemented: Sales, CRM, Accounting, Purchase, Inventory, & Dashboards
Number of users: 4
Company size: 4
Hosting type (On-premise or Odoo online): On-premise
Although MAC Service Group was only recently founded in March 2023, their Odoo story begins 5 years ago - with a roadside billboard in Oakland, California. When driving on the 101 North, owner Christian Rodriguez noticed an eye-catching advertisement featuring Odoo and its ERP software. Years later, when starting their own industrial distribution company and looking for the right software to help run their business, founders Dan & Christian remembered the billboard that originally snagged their attention. Christian recalls thinking at the time, “I remember this name called Odoo… let’s check these guys out.” Thus began MAC Service Group and Odoo’s journey together.
Family is the Name of the Game
It all began in a garage in spring of 2023, when co-founders Dan Slattery and Christian Rodriguez combined their two backgrounds in a way that had never been done before in Northern California. Christian had 10 years of experience in industrial packaging, stabilization packaging, agriculture, and food processing, while Dan had a 35-year background in construction equipment, supplies, and procurement. The two of them came together to create MAC Service Group, a company that sells industrial packaging and safety consumables. Named using the first letter of each of their children’s names - Matthias, Adam, and Christian - the company prides itself on its commitment to family, community, and happiness.
Introducing: Odoo
Part of the challenge of starting a company includes finding the right systems and tools that adequately address the company’s needs. The MAC Service Group founders didn’t know exactly what they wanted, so they explored several options. As they did their research, they remembered a certain billboard they had spotted off the freeway all those years ago. Dan and Christian called and spoke to Odoo Account Executive, Nicklaus, who answered all of their questions and guided them throughout the whole process. According to Dan, “Doing [a trial] and looking at the YouTube videos really gave us the sense that Odoo can do what we needed it to do”.
Growing Pains
Once MAC Service Group decided to partner with Odoo, they took off running, going through the process of initiation and asking all of their questions. Dan admits that they struggled, initially, with all of their team members coming from different systems and transitioning to Odoo. However, he emphasizes that Odoo Business Systems Analysts, Wilson and Jose, as well as Account Executive, Nicklaus, gave their company the support they needed to integrate Odoo as a solution to their specific business needs. The company’s presentation to their vendors and customers is extremely important to them, and they had to work closely with Odoo to get their invoices and POs to look exactly how they wanted them to. As Dan phrases it, it was “not what Odoo can do, but what we needed it to do - and to this day, it’s still doing that”. Odoo was adaptable, customizable, and most importantly, able to grow alongside them.
Life with Odoo
Odoo continues to be useful for a variety of MAC Service Group’s daily workflows. In the Accounting app, the Odoo database allows their company to see receivables and payables easily. Although their bank doesn’t integrate with Odoo (because their bank doesn’t allow third party access), there are many different keystrokes in Odoo to help keep their finances on track. Dan mentions how they can bank separately and manage their chart of accounts through Odoo, letting them get a good sense of their day-to-day business.
On a daily basis, some of the most important features that the company takes advantage of are order entry, inventory, and cycle counts. As a distribution company, these aspects of Odoo are critical to keeping the ins and outs of their business running smoothly.
But perhaps the most valuable benefit of Odoo is the database itself. Dan states, “The traceability within Odoo to track our activity and have it in front of us when we pull up the order or a PO is incredible.”
The Impact of Support
After speaking with the founders of MAC Service Group, it is clear that one of the most influential factors in their company’s success with Odoo was (and still is!) the dedicated support they received. Dan and Christian appreciate the dedication of their Odoo support team, noting that “you can’t stump them - if they don’t know how to do something, they will get back to you”. For a business that values people above all else, the personalized and attentive support they received from Wilson, Jose, and Nicklaus was priceless.
Looking Ahead
“It’s a dream come true” for both Dan and Christian to have started MAC Service Group. They are clear about the fact that their company is a family business focused on the philosophy of taking care of its people - its customers, its vendors, and its employees. With such care and attention given to the quality of their business and its relationships, it is more important than ever to make sure the system they use to manage their work is meeting their high standards.
When asked to describe their experience in one word, each co-founder had a different one they felt encapsulated Odoo as a software.
Dan? “Adaptability.”
Christian? “Dynamic.”
“That’s your billboard right there.”
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