Desimone
A Belgian engineering firm specialized in the manufacturing of custom industrial machines
Desimone is a Belgian company based in Charleroi, specialized in the design and manufacturing of custom industrial machinery. Loading robots, quality control machines, handling equipment, spraying machines: each solution is tailor-made for clients operating in highly demanding technical sectors, including automotive, food processing, pharmaceuticals, and logistics.
Logistic & Warehouse Invoicing HR Sales
Each project involves a multidisciplinary team of engineers throughout the entire lifecycle: from system architecture and technical modeling to manufacturing, testing, and on-site installation at the customer’s premises. Cost control is a core part of the process: hundreds of working hours, procurement of specialized components, multiple iteration phases, all managed within a predefined budget established from the outset.
Over the years, Desimone’s growth made the limitations of its existing organization increasingly apparent
More projects running simultaneously, larger teams, and more complex purchasing and invoicing flows. The existing tools were no longer sufficient to ensure the required level of control.
Challenge
Desimone already had an ERP system in place. While it supported day-to-day operational management, it provided very limited analytical visibility.
Obtaining an up-to-date financial overview of an ongoing project, comparing actual hours worked against forecasted budgets, or identifying deviations before they impacted margins required considerable manual effort, a process no longer compatible with the company’s growing activity.
“ What was important, is to have a dedicated project manager that could really understand our needs from inside. And for this, I needed a 1-to-1 approach and I had ”
Axel Soyer CEO Desimone
4 identified pain points
Faced with sustained growth, the company needed an integrated system where every transaction is traceable, every decision can rely on reliable real-time data, and the profitability of each project remains visible throughout the entire lifecycle.
- Opaque budget tracking : Impossible to visualize in real time the gap between the initial budget, committed costs, and actual expenses.
- Labor costs not tracked per project : Working hours were recorded in a scattered manner, without any direct link to tasks or project profitability.
- Insufficient material traceability : Purchases and stock movements were not linked to the relevant projects.
- Fragmented collaboration : The absence of a centralized system slowed down decision-making and the flow of information between teams.
Solutions
To address Desimone’s challenges, Eezee-it deployed an integrated Odoo solution built around three complementary pillars, covering the entire lifecycle of an industrial project.
1Real-time budget dashboards
Each project benefits from a continuously updated financial dashboard, combining the initial budget, committed costs, and actual expenses. Automatic alerts highlight deviations as soon as they appear, before they can impact margins.
2Time tracking integrated with projects
A barcode-based time tracking system allows workshop teams to log their hours per task using a smartphone, tablet, or workstation. Every recorded hour is automatically allocated to the correct project and feeds real-time cost calculation.
3Project-linked purchasing and inventory
The Purchase and Inventory modules are directly integrated into the project lifecycle. Every purchase order is linked to a project from the moment it is created. Upon receipt, stock levels are updated and costs are automatically allocated, ensuring full traceability of the components used.
Result
In less than five months, Desimone transitioned to a system where every project-related data point is centralized, reliable, and accessible in real time. Beyond the administrative time savings, the company’s management capabilities have been fundamentally strengthened: management now has clear visibility into the profitability of each project even before completion.
- Full go-live completed in less than 5 months, within the expected timeline and quality standards.
- Significant reduction in the time spent on budget tracking and project reporting.
- Real-time visibility of labor costs, automatically allocated by project and by task.
- Traçabilité complète des achats et des matériaux, sans ressaisie ni consolidation manuelle.
- Fluidification de la collaboration entre équipes techniques, achats et direction, sur une seule source de données.
- Système évolutif : Odoo accompagne la croissance de Desimone sans dégrader le niveau de contrôle.
"
What it has improved the most, finally, is having a convenient tool to better drive the company. The ambition for us is further to grow. I think Odoo will be able to follow us.
Continuous Budget Control Without Manual Consolidation
The project dashboard distinguishes between three cost levels
- the initial budget approved upstream, committed costs corresponding to ongoing purchase orders, and actual expenses generated from received invoices. These three indicators are updated continuously, without manual intervention.
- Configurable alerts are triggered as soon as an overrun threshold is reached, enabling corrective action before the variance becomes structural.
- Management therefore has access to a reliable financial reference point for every ongoing project, without relying on periodic consolidation.
- The number of follow-up meetings decreases mechanically: status-related questions can be answered directly within the system.
From Workshop Time Tracking to Real-Time Profitability Visibility for Management
Each operator records their hours by task using the terminal available in the workshop.
- Whether it is a barcode scanner, tablet, or fixed workstation. The input process is simple and does not disrupt workflow.
- These hours are automatically transferred into Odoo Timesheet, allocated by project and activity, without re-entry by supervisors or HR.
- The hourly cost configured by employee profile converts each time entry into an actual labor cost. Management gains a consolidated, real-time view of the profitability of every assignment, regardless of the project stage.
- This setup also prepares Desimone for the Belgian legal requirement regarding working time registration, which will apply to all employers from January 2027 onward.
Purchasing–Inventory–Project Integration
Every Component Is Traceable From Purchase Order to Delivered Machine.
- Each purchase order is created with an explicit link to the relevant project. Upon receipt, the stock movement is automatically recorded and the cost is assigned to the project without any additional intervention.
- Purchasing teams have real-time access to stock levels and project-related commitments without needing to consult multiple sources. Replenishment decisions are therefore based on reliable and consolidated data.
- Full traceability of the components used in each machine also becomes a quality asset: it helps meet the documentation requirements of demanding industrial clients and simplifies after-sales interventions.
From Compliance
to Profitability Management
The time-tracking system implemented at Desimone goes far beyond regulatory compliance. Every hour logged in the workshop automatically feeds project timesheets and production cost calculations. This is precisely what the new Belgian legislation will require from all employers starting January 1, 2027.
To understand how Odoo can address this requirement while generating operational value far beyond simple compliance
The Odoo solution configured by Eezee-itMeet our experts !
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