Dropship to subcontractor¶

In manufacturing, subcontracting is the process of a company engaging a third-party manufacturer, or subcontractor, to manufacture products that are then sold by the contracting company.

In Odoo, the Dropship Subcontractor on Order route is used to purchase the necessary components for a subcontracted product from the vendor, and have them delivered directly to the subcontractor, each time a purchase order (PO) for that product is confirmed.

The subcontractor then uses the components to manufacture the desired product, before shipping it back to the contracting company.

Configuration¶

To use the Dropship Subcontractor on Order route, navigate to Manufacturing app ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings, and enable the checkbox next to Subcontracting, under the Operations heading.

Once the Subcontracting setting is enabled, it is also necessary to properly configure the subcontracted product, the product’s BoM, and the components listed on the BoM.

Configure product¶

To configure a product for the Dropship Subcontractor on Order route, navigate to Inventory app ‣ Products ‣ Products, and select a product, or create a new one by clicking New.

Select the Purchase tab, and add the product’s subcontractor as a vendor by clicking Add a line, selecting the subcontractor in the Vendor drop-down menu, and entering a price in the Price field.

Then, click on the Inventory tab to configure a route that determines what happens to the finished product, once it has been manufactured by the subcontractor.

If the finished product is shipped back to the contracting company, make sure that the Buy route is selected. In addition, select the Replenish on Order (MTO) route to automatically create a PO for the product upon confirmation of a SO, unless there is enough stock on-hand to fulfill the SO.

If the finished product is shipped directly to the customer by the subcontractor, make sure that only the Dropship route is selected.

Configure bill of materials¶

To configure a BoM for the Dropship Subcontractor on Order route, click the Bill of Materials smart button on the product’s page, and select the BoM.

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

In the BoM Type field, select the Subcontracting option. Then, add one or more subcontractors in the Subcontractors field that appears below.

Finally, make sure that all necessary components are specified on the Components tab. To add a new component, click Add a line, select the component in the Component drop-down menu, and specify the required quantity in the Quantity field.

Configure Components¶

To configure components for the Dropship Subcontractor on Order route, navigate to each component from the BoM by selecting the component’s name in the Components tab, and clicking the ➡️ (right arrow) button to the right of the name.

Alternatively, navigate to each component by going to Inventory app ‣ Products ‣ Products, and selecting the component.

On the component product form, select the Purchase tab, and add a vendor by clicking Add a line, selecting the vendor in the Vendor field, and adding the price they sell the product for in the Price field. This is the vendor that sends components to the subcontractor, once they are purchased.

Then, click on the Inventory tab and select the Dropship Subcontractor on Order route in the Routes section.

Repeat the process for every component that must be dropshipped to the subcontractor.

Dropship subcontractor on order workflow¶

The dropship subcontractor on order workflow consists of up to six steps:

1. Create a sales order (SO) for the subcontracted product; doing so creates a subcontractor PO to purchase the product from the subcontractor.

2. Confirm the PO created in the previous step, or create a new PO; doing so creates a request for quotation (RfQ) to purchase the components from the vendor, as well as a receipt order or a dropship order.

3. Confirm the RfQ to turn it into a second PO (vendor PO); doing so creates a Dropship Subcontractor order.

4. Process the Dropship Subcontractor order once the vendor has sent the components to the subcontractor.

5. Process the receipt once the subcontractor has finished manufacturing the subcontracted product, and shipped it back to the contracting company OR process the dropship order to ship the product directly to the end customer.

6. If the workflow was started by creating an SO, and the finished product is not dropshipped to the end customer, process the delivery order once the product has been shipped to the customer.

The specific number of steps depends on the reason that the subcontracted product is being purchased from the subcontractor.

If the reason is to fulfill a specific customer order, the process starts with creating an SO, and ends with delivering the product to the customer, or having the subcontractor dropship it to them.

If the reason is to increase quantity of stock on-hand, the process starts with creating a PO, and ends with receiving the product into inventory.

Create an SO¶

It is only necessary to complete this step if the product is being purchased from the subcontractor to fulfill a customer need. If the product is being purchased to increase the quantity of stock on-hand, move on to the next step.

To create a new SO, navigate to Sales app ‣ Orders ‣ Orders, and click New.

Select the customer in the Customer drop-down menu. Then, click Add a product on the Order Lines tab, select the product in the Product drop-down menu, and enter a quantity in the Quantity field.

Click Confirm to confirm the SO, at which point a Purchase smart button appears at the top of the page. This is the subcontractor PO, or the PO created to purchase the subcontracted product from the subcontractor.

Process subcontractor PO¶

If a subcontractor PO was not created in the previous step, do so now by navigating to Purchase app ‣ Orders ‣ Purchase Orders, and clicking 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 a product produced by the subcontractor in the Product field, and enter the quantity in the Quantity field.

Finally, click Confirm Order to confirm the subcontractor PO.

When a PO is confirmed for a product that requires dropshipping components to a subcontractor, a receipt or dropship order is automatically created, and can be accessed from the corresponding Receipt or Dropship smart button that appears at the top of the PO.

In addition, an RfQ is created for the components that are purchased from the vendor and sent to the subcontractor. However, the RfQ IS NOT automatically linked to the subcontractor PO.

Once the RfQ is confirmed and becomes a vendor PO, a Dropship Subcontractor order is created. This order is linked to both the vendor PO and the subcontractor PO.

Confirm vendor RfQ¶

To access the RfQ created by confirming the subcontractor PO, navigate to Purchase app ‣ Orders ‣ Requests for Quotation. Select the RfQ that lists the correct vendor in the Vendor field, and the reference number of the receipt that was created after confirming subcontractor PO, in the Source Document field.

On the RfQ, the Deliver To field reads Dropship Subcontractor, and the Dropship Address field shows the name of the subcontractor to whom components are being dropshipped.

Click Confirm Order to turn the RfQ into a vendor PO, and confirm the purchase of components from the vendor. After doing so, a Dropship smart button appears at the top of the vendor PO, and a Resupply smart button appears at the top of the subcontractor PO.

Process Dropship Subcontractor order¶

Once the components have been delivered to the subcontractor, navigate to Purchase app ‣ Orders ‣ Purchase Orders, and select the vendor PO or the subcontractor PO. Then, click the Dropship smart button or the Resupply smart button, respectively.

Clicking either button opens the Dropship Subcontractor order. Click the Validate button at the top of the order to confirm that the subcontractor has received the components.

Process receipt or dropship order¶

Once the subcontractor has manufactured the finished product, navigate to Purchase app ‣ Orders ‣ Purchase Orders, and select the subcontractor PO.

If the subcontracted product should be received into inventory, once the product arrives, click the Receive Products button at the top of the subcontractor PO to open the receipt. Then, click Validate at the top of the receipt to register the product into inventory.

Alternatively, select the Receipt smart button at the top of the subcontractor PO, and click Validate at the top of the receipt.

If the subcontracted product should be dropshipped, select the Dropship button at the top of the page to open the dropship order, and click Validate once the subcontractor has sent the product to the customer.

Process delivery order¶

If the subcontracting workflow was started by a customer SO, and the finished product was not dropshipped to the customer, but rather delivered to the contracting company, it is necessary to ship the product to the customer, and process the delivery order.

Once the product has been shipped to the customer, navigate to the Sales app, and select the SO. Select the Delivery smart button at the top of the page to open the delivery order, and click Validate to confirm that the product has been shipped to the customer.