Electronics are a major part of daily life in the modern digital age. From cars and smartphones to aircraft and gaming consoles, millions of electronic devices operate on circuit boards. Therefore, technology must also exist to test these circuit boards to ensure they are functioning properly and without errors. One company that designs and manufactures the hardware for engineers to test their circuit boards is FixturFab.
Prior to starting the company, FixturFab co-founder Duncan Lowder was a test engineer at various consumer electronics start-ups, constantly designing test fixtures from scratch. Through these jobs, he recognized a need for a specialized company that focused solely on hardware testing materials and, with co-founder Joe Selvik, started FixturFab in 2018.
From its inception in 2018 to today, FixturFab has experienced the growth and development that any new company experiences, including reevaluating ways to manage its business operations. The company realized it needed a comprehensive ERP to streamline its workflows and set the business up for future success—enter Odoo.
The pre-Odoo piecemeal predicament
Prior to using Odoo, FixturFab was using a combination of Quickbooks Online, Google spreadsheets, Airtable, and other random sales and CRM tools. Co-founder Joe Selvik explains that this piecemeal system was great for getting started as a business, but the company quickly outgrew it. Particularly, Joe says that the old system lacked certain capabilities that were crucial to the company’s workflows:
Inventory management and procurement were a mess.
Specifically, tracking inbound materials via their procurement process, outgoing materials, bills of materials, and sales orders were capabilities that the company’s old system was severely lacking. However, Joe emphasizes that as two engineers who started their own business, he and co-founder Duncan didn’t originally understand how everything in the business tied together. They didn’t initially see the importance and connection between products, chart of accounts, incoming procurement stock, and delivery orders. Therefore, when they first started FixturFab, this connectivity between workflows wasn’t a top priority when they looked for business software. However, as time went on and they realized the importance of this integration, they began to research alternative solutions.
In Joe and Duncan’s search for a new ERP system, there were two major factors that drove their decision-making: 1) strong inventory management capabilities and 2) pricing. Odoo stood out above its competitors in these specific areas, especially pricing, with Odoo’s model being much more accessible than options such as SAP or Netsuite. This led the duo to decide on Odoo as their new business software, and in July 2023, FixturFab officially went live.
An in-sync system with Odoo
Joe says that while FixturFab’s implementation took a lot of effort on their end, it went smoothly and was absolutely worth it. Most importantly, the implementation process taught the engineering duo a lot about how a business works from top to bottom, including building sales forecasts and tracking revenue and finished goods.
Odoo’s Purchase and Inventory applications have been particularly impactful for the company, with Joe emphasizing that the way these modules relate to each other is a huge plus: “Having it all in one system is really useful.” With inventory management severely lacking in the company’s old piecemeal solution, Odoo’s advanced capabilities in this area proved to be a tremendous improvement for FixturFab’s operations.
Day to day, Joe says that Odoo has streamlined many of the company’s workflows, such as purchase orders, tracking the receipt of goods against the bill, and implementing three-way matching. In general, Odoo has given FixturFab an insight into the accuracy of its business operations.
"[Odoo] is very helpful in our continued growth."
We now have extra capacity to sell custom products where before, we were limited by our engineering bandwidth and getting everything out the door quickly enough.
In the one year that FixturFab has been live with Odoo, the software has noticeably expedited and connected a lot of the company's business operations, particularly along the sales process. As an unexpected bonus, the company’s Odoo integration also taught co-founders Duncan and Joe a lot of valuable information about running a business in general. As FixturFab heads into its 6th year in business, it now has Odoo on its side to tackle the standard day-to-day workflows so that the co-founders can focus on continuing growth and what lies ahead.
Location/Region: Seattle, WA
Industry: Electronics testing and measurement
Apps implemented: CRM, Sales, Accounting, Documents, Project, Timesheets, Website, Purchase, Inventory, Manufacturing, Quality, Sign, Expenses
Software Replaced: Quickbooks, Google Spreadsheets, Airtable
Number of users: 6
Company size: 6
Hosting type: Odoo.sh
Electronics are a major part of daily life in the modern digital age. From cars and smartphones to aircraft and gaming consoles, millions of electronic devices operate on circuit boards. Therefore, technology must also exist to test these circuit boards to ensure they are functioning properly and without errors. One company that designs and manufactures the hardware for engineers to test their circuit boards is FixturFab.
Prior to starting the company, FixturFab co-founder Duncan Lowder was a test engineer at various consumer electronics start-ups, constantly designing test fixtures from scratch. Through these jobs, he recognized a need for a specialized company that focused solely on hardware testing materials and, with co-founder Joe Selvik, started FixturFab in 2018.
From its inception in 2018 to today, FixturFab has experienced the growth and development that any new company experiences, including reevaluating ways to manage its business operations. The company realized it needed a comprehensive ERP to streamline its workflows and set the business up for future success—enter Odoo.
The pre-Odoo piecemeal predicament
Prior to using Odoo, FixturFab was using a combination of Quickbooks Online, Google spreadsheets, Airtable, and other random sales and CRM tools. Co-founder Joe Selvik explains that this piecemeal system was great for getting started as a business, but the company quickly outgrew it. Particularly, Joe says that the old system lacked certain capabilities that were crucial to the company’s workflows:
Specifically, tracking inbound materials via their procurement process, outgoing materials, bills of materials, and sales orders were capabilities that the company’s old system was severely lacking. However, Joe emphasizes that as two engineers who started their own business, he and co-founder Duncan didn’t originally understand how everything in the business tied together. They didn’t initially see the importance and connection between products, chart of accounts, incoming procurement stock, and delivery orders. Therefore, when they first started FixturFab, this connectivity between workflows wasn’t a top priority when they looked for business software. However, as time went on and they realized the importance of this integration, they began to research alternative solutions.
In Joe and Duncan’s search for a new ERP system, there were two major factors that drove their decision-making: 1) strong inventory management capabilities and 2) pricing. Odoo stood out above its competitors in these specific areas, especially pricing, with Odoo’s model being much more accessible than options such as SAP or Netsuite. This led the duo to decide on Odoo as their new business software, and in July 2023, FixturFab officially went live.
An in-sync system with Odoo
Joe says that while FixturFab’s implementation took a lot of effort on their end, it went smoothly and was absolutely worth it. Most importantly, the implementation process taught the engineering duo a lot about how a business works from top to bottom, including building sales forecasts and tracking revenue and finished goods.
Odoo’s Purchase and Inventory applications have been particularly impactful for the company, with Joe emphasizing that the way these modules relate to each other is a huge plus: “Having it all in one system is really useful.” With inventory management severely lacking in the company’s old piecemeal solution, Odoo’s advanced capabilities in this area proved to be a tremendous improvement for FixturFab’s operations.
Day to day, Joe says that Odoo has streamlined many of the company’s workflows, such as purchase orders, tracking the receipt of goods against the bill, and implementing three-way matching. In general, Odoo has given FixturFab an insight into the accuracy of its business operations.
"[Odoo] is very helpful in our continued growth."
In the one year that FixturFab has been live with Odoo, the software has noticeably expedited and connected a lot of the company's business operations, particularly along the sales process. As an unexpected bonus, the company’s Odoo integration also taught co-founders Duncan and Joe a lot of valuable information about running a business in general. As FixturFab heads into its 6th year in business, it now has Odoo on its side to tackle the standard day-to-day workflows so that the co-founders can focus on continuing growth and what lies ahead.
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