Basic subcontracting

In basic subcontracting, a company’s product is produced entirely by a subcontractor. The product is first purchased from the subcontractor, who acquires their own components, manufactures the final product, then delivers the final product to the contracting company’s warehouse.

The following documentation covers how to configure a subcontracted product and trigger the subcontracting process.

Configuration

To use subcontracting, contractors must first configure products with a vendor pricelist as well as a subcontracting-type BoM.

The pricelist allows the contracting company to purchase the product from the vendor (subcontractor) through a PO, while the BoM allows the product to be manufactured externally by the subcontractor.

Configure product vendor

To configure a product’s vendor for basic subcontracting, navigate to Inventory app ‣ Products ‣ Products. Then, select a product or create a new one.

On the product form, click the Purchase tab and add the product’s subcontractor as a vendor by clicking Add a line. Select the subcontractor in the Vendor drop-down menu.

Then, enter the price of the product in the Price field.

Finally, set a lead time for the product in the Delivery Lead Time field to specify the number of days for the subcontractor to produce and deliver the final product.

Note

Since contractors are only responsible for purchasing and receiving the final product, they do not need to additionally configure manufacturing lead times on a BoM. Instead, provide only a single Delivery Lead Time on the vendor pricelist that factors in both the subcontractor’s manufacturing and delivery time.

Configure BoM

After specifying the vendor, configure a subcontracting-type BoM for the product. Click the Bill of Materials smart button on the product form. Then, select the desired BoM or create a new one.

Astuce

Alternatively, navigate to Manufacturing app ‣ Products ‣ Bills of Materials, and select the BoM for the subcontracted product.

In the BoM Type field, select Subcontracting. In the resulting Subcontractors field, add one or more subcontractors.

Because the components and manufacturing are both handled by the subcontractor, there is no need to list any components in the Components tab of the BoM.

Basic subcontracting workflow

The basic subcontracting workflow begins by creating a PO to purchase the product from the subcontractor (1).

The contractor (YourCompany) then confirms the PO, which creates a receipt to transfer the final product (2). The subcontractor manufactures the product and delivers it back to the contractor when done.

Once the product has been produced and received, the contractor validates the receipt (5) to trigger inventory moves from the subcontractor to the company’s stock (3, 4).

Create and confirm PO

To create a PO for the subcontracted product, navigate to Purchase app ‣ Orders ‣ Purchase Orders, and click New.

Begin filling out the PO by selecting a subcontractor from the Vendor drop-down menu. In the Products tab, click Add a product to create a new product line. Select the subcontracted product in the Product field, and enter the quantity in the Quantity field.

After adding the product, the Expected Arrival field is updated with the finished product’s expected delivery date, as configured earlier with the vendor’s Delivery Lead Time.

Finally, click Confirm Order to confirm the PO. A receipt is automatically created, and a Receipt smart button appears at the top of the form.

Process receipt

After the order is confirmed, the subcontractor manufactures the product and delivers the finished good back to the contracting company.

To receive the finished product from the subcontractor, click the Receive Products button on the PO, or click the Receipt smart button at the top of the page. Then, click Validate to enter the incoming shipment into inventory.

Note

If multi-step inventory flows are enabled, additional transfers must be validated to enter the incoming product into stock.

Track inventory moves

After validating a receipt, Odoo automatically generates inventory moves to track the movement of subcontracted products between locations. To view these inventory moves, navigate to Inventory app ‣ Reporting ‣ Moves History.

To track inventory movement in subcontracting, Odoo sends any product components to a dedicated Subcontracting Location. A virtual location called Production then consumes the components and produces the finished good. Once produced, the good then moves back to the Subcontracting Location before finally entering the contractor’s stock when the receipt is validated.

Note

Because no components are sent in basic subcontracting, there is no movement from the Subcontracting Location to the Production location.