Clearing the Waters: How SFES Filtered Out Old Systems and Streamlined Success with Odoo

Location/Region: Canton, GA
Industry: Water filtration manufacturing
Apps implemented: Accounting, Sales, CRM, Inventory, Manufacturing, Purchase, Documents, Email Marketing, Sign, Website, Marketing Automation 
Software Replaced: SAGE
Number of users: 6 
Company size: 20
Hosting type: Odoo online

Hard water, or water with a high content of minerals such as calcium and magnesium, can cause many serious issues in water equipment. These hard minerals eventually form limescale, a build-up that results in increased energy costs, maintenance costs, and a decrease in equipment lifespan. Companies such as Southeastern Filtration and Equipment Systems (SFES) exist to address this very issue.

SFES, founded in 1986 by current owner and President John Brandreth, manufactures water filtration systems with an emphasis on mineral scale control. The company’s proprietary cartridge product helps eliminate scale buildup. SFES sells primarily to the commercial side, with a niche customer base in the residential sector. With over 30 years in the industry, SFES has slowly but surely grown and expanded its operations. As technology continued to improve, the company recognized that it needed to get with the times and update its business management software. This is where Odoo comes in.

When Jason Thomas, Director of Operations, joined SFES in the mid-2000s, the company was using a combination of SAGE for manufacturing, inventory, and sales and Quickbooks for accounting. Jason explains that after only a few years at the company, he felt as though SAGE was old, antiquated, and inflexible. He particularly didn’t appreciate SAGE’s lack of room to customize, specifically with the user interface and reports. On top of this, the software was simply too expensive, considering its outdated and restrictive nature.

We were spending a lot more money than I thought we should have [with SAGE].

SFES reached a breaking point in 2016 with its SAGE and Quickbooks system, realizing that it needed to switch to a business management software that better met its needs. Jason began exploring alternative options, and without question, Odoo stood out amongst the rest:

Nobody was really close in my mind to what Odoo offered. It was kind of a no-brainer.

Odoo’s impact on SFES’s daily workflows has been tremendously positive. Jason explains that it's difficult for him to single out one application in particular that has made the company’s day-to-day operations more efficient, saying that it's “all of them, really. They make my life simpler.” 

In general, the two most impactful, big-picture benefits that Odoo has provided SFES have been its customizability and integration. Jason gives the example of the CRM module, which the company uses daily and has tailored to follow its specific workflow and processes. Furthermore, the connection between items such as manufacturing orders and their related sales orders allows Jason and his team to have extremely intuitive insight into what’s happening on the business’s back end. 

One of the main reasons why I switched to Odoo is I just love the customizability of the interface and some of the other things that Odoo offers. Plus, the integration of every single app is just seamless and simplifies all of our workflows. In the last 7 years, Odoo’s been great to us.

While Jason’s formal title is Director of Operations, he emphasizes that SFES is a small company, so he often wears many hats outside of his job description. He deals with accounting and sales in addition to his title role, which requires overseeing the entire business. Jason says that Odoo has made a huge difference for him in his role, especially since he’s 100% remote. The communication between Odoo applications has been critical.

I'm pretty much on top of everything, and it's mainly because of Odoo. I can quickly go from app to app to app and see what’s going on.

With a modern ERP solution on its side, SFES is now equipped with comprehensive and flexible software that is adaptable to the company’s changing needs. As SFES heads into its 8th year of using Odoo and its 39th year in business, Odoo is prepared to the support the company along every step of its journey.

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