SkiMachine (Alpine Engineering) builds indoor ski slopes: revolving slopes on which you can ski and snowboard all year round, delivered to customers around the world. Machine building to order, with a lot of subcontracted work such as powder coating.
The challenge
SkiMachine had started Odoo on its own, with help from its own network, and used it for manufacturing and inventory. It worked - but it chafed. Purchase orders for subcontracting were merged when they should not be (powder-coating orders in different RAL colours do not belong in one pile), merging manufacturing orders did not work, sales orders proceeded before the down payment came in, and accounting had a stubborn VAT/EC-sales-list issue. No reason for a re-implementation, but every reason for someone to dot the i’s.
The approach
Not a big project, but Momentum Packs: bundles of hours applied precisely where it hurts most. The environment moved from Odoo Online to Odoo.sh, creating room for targeted extensions. Then we reworked the manufacturing logic piece by piece: separate make-to-order routes, subcontracting where components are purchased first and only then the order goes to the coater, merging manufacturing and purchase orders while keeping the right separation, minimum order quantities on product and purchase order, and deliveries grouped per packaging. Dashboards and VAT handling came along in the same movement.
The result
A system that follows the real process instead of the other way around. The shop floor sees clear manufacturing and delivery documents, purchasing no longer has to pull orders apart by hand, and the administration is correct down to the VAT. Development continues: a CPQ configurator for the ski slopes is on the agenda. The lesson: whoever starts Odoo on their own does not need to start over to get further - targeted hours on the right bottlenecks do more than a big bang.