How EKI turned chaos into control, with Odoo

EKI turns rubber and foam into products in almost every size and shape a customer can imagine. With such a large and varied range, the whole organization depends on smooth-running processes. Finance Manager Manon explains how EKI, together with Nalios, went back to the Odoo Standard - and what that delivered in practice.  

01The challenge

Five years ago, EKI moved from an outdated ERP system - two separate packages that had to be linked together manually - to Odoo. That first implementation wasn't done with Nalios yet, and the goal was mainly to carry the existing way of working over one-to-one. The result: a lot of customization, built around processes that weren't necessarily the best way of doing things.  

“Our requirements had to fit into Odoo, so everything was full of customization. That was time-consuming and expensive - and with every upgrade, it all had to be rebuilt."

EKI ran into the limits of that customization: a lot of process knowledge lived in "in people's heads," which made the organization dependent on whoever happened to be in the day. 
Homegrown solutions - such as the approval process for purchase invoices, or a CRM that wasn't being used to its full potential - also made everything cumbersome and costly with every new Odoo release.  

02The approach: back to the standard

Two years ago, EKI started looking for a partner who wouldn't just execute requests, but genuinely think along. That partner became Nalios. Nalios began by mapping out what was truly custom at EKI, and what was actually just standard Odoo funtionality - including the purchase incoice process, where the Odoo Standard already covered around 90% of the need, and a thorough review of how the CRM was being used. 

Today, nearly EKI's entire operations runs in Odoo: purchasing, sales, customer service, full accounting, manufacturing, and inventory - all in one system, with nog links between separate packages. The flow from order to delivery runs almost fully automatically: a customer email comes in through in Outlook, is converted into a CRM ticket in Odoo, and results in a quote or order via a configurator that can handle millions of rubber and foam product combinations. As soon as an order is confirmed, it's automatically assigned to the right production machine.   

03The result

After two years of working with Nalios, EKI is seeing concrete results

What EKI notices most is the difference in continuity: because the right machine is assigned automatically, production simply keeps running - even when someone is out for the day. There's no more back-and-forth over who picks up an order, and the chance of mistakes is smaller because it's immediately clear which machine needs to produce what. Smaller processes too, such as handling complaints and credit notes, now run noticeably faster with fewer errors. 

“We didn't want Odoo adapted to our old processes - we wanted our processed adapted to Odoo. That also makes every upgrade a lot easier.”

— Manon, Finance Manager at EKI

04What's next on the roadmap

EKI is now looking ahead of the next step: AI-based automatic production scheduling, where each machine gets its own tablet instead of printed work orders. As soon as an order is confirmed, the job goes straight to the right tablet - with start and stop times that not only enable better planning, but also give insight into how profitable certain orders really are. Inventory management with scanners is also on the roadmap for the coming year, as a necessary foundation for that automatic scheduling. 

05The collaboration with Nalios

What defines the collaboration for EKI, above all, is speed and involvement. Jorik, as the dedicated point of contact, is always reachable and responds quickly: questions are almost always looked at the same day. In the background, Nils checks in regularly to make sure the collaboration is still going the way EKI wants. And just as important: Nalios actively thinks along about whether something could be dine differently, better - rather than simply executing whatever is asked.