Subcontract manufacturing control
Keep outside processing visible, traceable and accountable
Material sent for heat treatment, coating, machining, plating or another external process remains part of your production responsibility. Strong control connects the physical movement, subcontract purchase order, job stage, quality evidence and financial liability.
Define the outside-process requirement
Specify the operation, approved supplier, expected quantity, due date, technical standard, inspection requirement and commercial basis before material leaves the factory. Link the requirement to the production job and routing stage.
Record every outward movement
Use a controlled dispatch or subcontract challan that identifies the item, batch or lot, job, quantity, unit, process and supplier. The physical document and system transaction should refer to the same movement number.
Separate supplied material from supplier-owned stock
Your material held at a subcontractor must remain visible as company-owned inventory at an external location. Do not treat it as consumed merely because it has left the premises.
Track partial receipts and balance quantities
Record returned quantity, accepted quantity, rejection, scrap and quantity still with the supplier. Partial deliveries must update the job and the external stock balance without closing the full requirement.
Connect quality evidence to the batch
Capture certificates, inspection results and non-conformance decisions against the returned batch or lot. Rework and replacement material should retain a clear link to the original movement.
Reconcile operations, purchasing and finance
Match the purchase order, outward quantity, receipt, accepted quantity, service charge and invoice. Regular supplier-wise reconciliation exposes aged material, unbilled services and quantity differences before they become write-offs.
Use an exception view
Management should see overdue material, unacknowledged receipts, rejected quantities, open rework and unmatched invoices in one view. The goal is to identify the next responsible action, not simply produce another report.