Strymon is a world leader in the manufacturer of guitar effects pedals and other musical effects systems.
The company was founded in 2004 and is based in Westlake Village, California. Strymon products are known as the best in the industry, used in the professional and amateur musician markets worldwide.
Strymon’s products are designed and manufactured in the United States, 100% tested, and built to the highest quality. Strymon’s reputation for quality of sound and design is foremost in their community, and they are constantly working on new products for new niches, propelled by this reputation.
Strymon’s goals are simple:
“We want to build products with no compromises. We want to push the limits of technology in music. We want to redefine what is possible with music gear. We want to use exceptionally great components and ridiculously powerful processors. We want to make gear that sounds better than anything you’ve ever heard. We want to make our customers happy. We want you to be inspired to create amazing music.”
Looking for a solution to grow with
“We needed to manage inventory on something better than spreadsheets,” says Gregg Stock, one of the founding members of Strymon.
Strymon’s growth was strong, based on the quality and value of their products. As they grew, they understood they would need to invest in software to help manage their production, accounting, purchasing and sales. They considered a number of options, ultimately deciding to download and experiment with Odoo.
After some substantial experimentation, Gregg Stock reached out to Open Source Integrators for assistance in Odoo implementation.
“We wanted an open source project to avoid being stuck with a system that wasn’t supported if a company went out of business. We also wanted to have professional support available.”
A joint review of the installation between Strymon and OSI resulted in several major goals.
- To help the Strymon team gain confidence and knowledge in their system.
- To implement the Accounting module first, and then Manufacturing and Warehouse, in order to create situational awareness and accurate accounting reports.
- To gain self sufficiency in the operation of the system.
- To gain efficiencies, if possible, in purchasing and inventory.
- To offer integrated E-commerce, enabling the sales channel to be more efficient.
The project unfolds
Strymon and OSI embarked immediately to create a clean instance of Odoo. The system is “self-hosted” on a cloud-based server, where vetted staff have access to the system through secure means. This system has proven to be reliable—uptime has been over 99%.
After this hosted hardware was operational, Strymon and OSI worked together to configure financial accounting. The team had to work through a moderately complex data conversion of the previous system, in order to ensure that the transactions were represented in Odoo correctly. Jake Lawrence, Strymon’s Accounting Manager, was instrumental in managing the migration.
Once the financial accounting framework was in place, the team implemented Warehouse and Manufacturing. This step required significant planning, due to multiple warehouse and manufacturing locations, and a sophisticated approach to product fabrication.
Strymon’s implementation used Odoo largely out of the box, but with some specialized modules to support their business model.
“We needed to look hard at our Business Processes, and adapt a few to Odoo’s approach, as well as customize the system in a few places as well.”
As an example, Strymon is using the Odoo E-commerce tools as a distributor only sales channel. This system allows real time ordering from larger, sometimes international, distributors. It gives Strymon real time visibility into larger sales opportunities and helps them adjust manufacturing to meet these needs.
Given the high value placed on their products by the users, they needed a specialized approach to Return Management and replacement. OSI built a specialized module that supports this workflow, and ensures correct inventory and efficient returns.
Results
Damage Control / Strymon is now successfully using Odoo for:
- Accounting
- Sales
- Web Sales
- Warranty Tracking - RMA
- Inventory Management
- Manufacturing
- Purchasing
- Shipping
Summary
Solutions delivered for market leader in music effects
Strymon’s award winning products stand alone as the best guitar pedals in the industry. They build to the best quality possible and deliver innovation that delights their customers worldwide.
Open Source Integrators is proud to help enable their mission.
“We have gained a lot of efficiency. We have a lot of confidence in our abilities and have improved our process in key areas.”
