Location/Region: Los Angeles, CA
Industry: Digital Printing Services
Apps implemented: Manufacturing, Sales, Accounting, CRM and Studio
Software
Replaced: QuickBooks and Monday
Company size: <40
Hosting type: Odoo.sh
For CR&A Custom, a premier large-format digital printing business in Los Angeles, staying ahead in a fast-paced, experiential marketing industry means having systems that can match their agility. Since implementing Odoo, the company has streamlined its processes and achieved significant revenue increases over three years thanks to integrated apps like Sales, Manufacturing, and Accounting.
Founded 30 years ago by Carmen Rad, with Masoud Rad joining a few months later, CR&A Custom began by serving the garment industry, creating custom apparel such as hats and t-shirts for film crews and other businesses. Over time, the company pivoted to digital printing and now serves high-profile clients, including The Crypto Center, Coca-Cola, and the Super Bowl. With a team of 41 employees, CR&A Custom has positioned itself as a quick-turn manufacturer for the experiential marketing sector, producing signage and other event materials at scale.
“We are now, and will continue to be, one of the premier providers of large-format digital printing for clients in the retail and entertainment industries.”
Challenges Before Odoo
Before adopting Odoo, CR&A Custom relied on QuickBooks and Monday to manage sales orders. However, the company faced frequent discrepancies: if a sales order was updated, the manufacturing team often wasn’t aware of the change.
"If there were any changes that were made to the sale order itself, we would end up with a discrepancy. So the sales rep might have received the change, but the person who's actually manufacturing the goods did not receive the change."
This lack of synchronization often led to costly remanufacturing, wasting both time and resources. Other software solutions were considered, including Fishbowl, but ultimately, the team found that these options couldn’t fully address the need for a highly integrated system that could serve as a single source of truth across sales and manufacturing.
“Being able to address changes very quickly is incredibly important, especially for our niche in experiential marketing,” Christopher added.
A Turning Point in Operations
CR&A Custom discovered Odoo during exploratory conversations while evaluating Fishbowl. “When we outlined what our requirements were…they suggested that our use case was more of a fit for Odoo. At that point, I did an exploratory phase into what Odoo is…we settled on it and decided to invest.”
According to Rad: “The real benefit of Odoo is not necessarily what's pre-baked into it. It's the fact that you can extend the logic how you please…people often get pigeonholed into the subset of capabilities that an ERP system provides. The best part about Odoo is that you have the freedom to do it yourself.”
“Having the Sales Order ID as the universal source of truth is the biggest help to us. We can see directly what is in manufacturing and the status of each order after we developed the feature to do so.”
Looking Ahead
CR&A Custom has ambitious plans, both operationally and geographically. The company is preparing to upgrade to Odoo version 18, unlocking new features to improve workflow and efficiency.
“We’re excited to move on to version 18…there’s a lot of unique and cool features, so we’re excited to try some of them out,” says Rad.
On the business front, CR&A Custom is targeting participation as a vendor for the 2028 Olympics, a move that could place the company on a global stage.
With Odoo at the center of its operations, CR&A Custom is not only optimizing current processes but also setting the stage for future growth. The system’s flexibility ensures that new modules can be deployed as business needs evolve, making it a scalable solution for years to come.
