About CMR Direct
CMR-Direct is a UK-based supplier that specialises in providing components and consumables for low-temperature, quantum computing and condensed matter research systems. The company provides cryogenic equipment such as liquid helium and nitrogen dewars, specialist wiring assemblies for low-noise and low-heat-leak applications and bespoke sample-mounting stages for experiments below 4K.
Dr. Kurt Haselwimmer, after earning his doctorate at Cambridge University he built a cryogen-free low temperature system.
From Fragmented Systems to Full Integration
When your business supplies cutting-edge cryogenic components to research institutes studying superconductivity and quantum computing, precision isn’t just important - it’s everything. This is the world of Dr. Haselwimmer, whose company CMR-Direct - cmr-direct.com - manufactures components and consumables for ultra-low temperature research systems. Prior to adopting Odoo, Dr. Haselwimmer and his team were juggling multiple disconnected tools, ranging from xTuple and MYOB to OpenCart, as well as a variety of warehouse and e-commerce solutions. The setup worked, but at the cost of synchronisation issues, manual workarounds and significant time loss. Everything changed in 2019, when the business fully adopted Odoo, achieving total integration across departments, from manufacturing and finance to multi-warehouse logistics. Pretty much everything except, at that time,the e-commerce webstore. In 2023, the company began working with ERPGAP, which finally enabled the integration of an e-commerce solution allowing them to use Odoo as their sole ERP system.
Why Odoo Was the Right Fit
Since its launch, the company has faced a serious problem: no software could handle both the complexity of manufacturing and the accuracy required for research-grade production. There simply wasn't a platform capable of managing multi-level bills of materials and manufacturing. For years they relied on separate tools. Dr. Haselwimmer had been following Odoo’s evolution since version 8, watching it mature into a complete, flexible ERP platform. In 2019, the business implemented version 12 and Odoo has since become the backbone of CMR-Direct daily operations. A few years later, upgrading to versions 16 and 17 unlocked even greater efficiency, including a switch to Odoo’s native e-commerce platform. That was a pivotal decision, as the company had previously been using OpenCart, with 30 or 40 custom modules. They realised that this brought too many distractions, instead of clarity and seamless integration, so it was time to choose the truly necessary modules.
Multi-Warehouse Power and Dangerous Goods Handling
One of the biggest breakthroughs was Odoo’s multi-warehouse stock control, which allowed the business to use third-party logistics (3PL) for picking and packing. What used to be a hands-on, time-consuming process became almost fully automated. "The ability to classify products and sales orders as containing or not containing dangerous goods, made possible by a customised Odoo module, was vital in enabling us to increase the volume of orders that our 3PL partner could process." “We reduced our packaging and handling workload to about one-tenth of what it used to be.” The custom Odoo module played a major role as it enabled the 3PL partner, after receiving the necessary training, to handle over 95% of orders, compared to just 50% before. The impact has been profound with the company growing at a rate of around 70% over the last seven years.
Partnering with ERPGAP
No transformation happens in isolation. The partnership with ERPGAP was a key factor in the project's success. “Having a developer who really gets it makes all the difference,” said Dr. Haselwimmer who had previously worked with other developers and often found it difficult to get them to understand what he wanted and needed. “We moved from a self-hosted, self-maintained setup to a partnership with ERPGAP and now we can focus on what matters most: innovation, customers and growth.” That is what Odoo is all about: freeing the people in organizations from specific tasks so they can shift their focus to higher value activities, whether at work or in their leisure time. Initially, before partnering with ERPGAP, the company managed Odoo independently, however they found that maintaining regular Odoo updates was time-consuming. “We kind of had to figure it out by ourselves as we were going along, which is a good way to understand things, but unnecessarily frustrating.
“Odoo is such a well-rounded and powerful ERP system, but there’s still not much awareness of it in the UK. Not many people have actually used it, which is a shame, because Odoo is really showing what’s possible. It’s not some distant dream or something you need to spend €100,000 on just to get a look at. It’s real, it’s accessible and it actually works. With Odoo, you can dive right in at a reasonable cost and it has the potential to completely transform your business.”
Key Results
100% integrated system: manufacturing, accounting, stock and e-commerce unified in Odoo
95% of orders handled automatically by 3PL via customised Odoo module
70% business growth since 2019
Significant workload reduction: handling and packaging cut by 90%
Seamless UK operations: integrated with major high-street bank and Stripe - a major time-saver for financial reconciliation
Full confidence in ERP management with trusted Odoo partner ERPGAP
Conclusion
From precision cryogenics to precision business management, Dr. Haselwimmer’s journey shows how the right technology can turn complexity into clarity. With Odoo and ERPGAP, his company gained the integration, flexibility and efficiency needed to keep advancing, without adding more hours to the day. If you need assistance with your project or want to pivot to Odoo give us a call.
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