Overview of subcontracting

The simplest form of subcontracting is to generate a subcontracting purchase order to record the operations outsourced to a subcontractor. The subcontracting purchase order only represents the administrative handling of the subcontracting process.

When the subcontracted item is received back from the subcontractor, you must close the subcontracting purchase order, which is the signal to continue with the production process. Neither the physical handling of the subcontracted item nor sending material to the subcontractor is supported. The subcontracting is considered as a service.

For more information, refer to Operation subcontracting without material flow support.

A more extensive way of subcontracting in LN includes not only outsourcing work, but also the supply and receipt of the required material.

LN supports the physical and administrative flow of subassemblies as well as the required material. After the subcontractor has finished the activities on the subcontracted items the items are shipped back to the manufacturer.

In case of unplanned subcontracting, you take the decision to subcontract work after the creation of a production order. If you choose to subcontract the entire production, you must convert the production order to a purchase order in the Subcontract Production Orders (tisfc2201m000) session. If you want to subcontract a number of operations, you must replace the work centers on those operations with subcontracting work centers in the Subcontract Operations (tisfc2210m000) session.

Subcontracting rates are defined in the Subcontracting Rates (ticpr1160m000) session by price calculation code, subcontractor, and task. How subcontracting costs are calculated, and consequently, how the subcontracting rate must be interpreted, depends on the Calculation Method for Subcontracting Costs field in the Subcontracting Rates (ticpr1160m000) details session.