We were looking into using a subcontract operation to send parts out for an ‘outside service’ then receive them back in, which works great. However, there are certain situations where we would like to send inventory to an outside service without requiring a job, then receiving it back into inventory.
An option to receive as a different part number, because it had work done to it and changed the part number, would be an added bonus.
If you have a part identity change, there has to be a transactional event of some sort to make that happen.
I can appreciate that a job for a single subcontract operation feels like overkill at times, but it’s still probably the right answer. On top of that, how would you cut a PO for the outside service if there’s no job to reference? Selling them the materials is even more work. Adjusting inventory in/out is ugly.
Short answer? Tell your supplier to buy their own material and then buy the finished item from them! Problem solved, no subcontract.
There are issues with backflushing materials on a subcontract operation. And by issues, I mean it doesn’t. But maybe you could try a Kanban Receipt against one of these and see if that works? I haven’t tried it. If that works, it might keep the inventory/accounting issues under control.
Maybe someone has customized their way out of the box on this one.
To properly document your other option (including relief of inventory), you’d need a Sales Order to “sell” the item to your outside service shop and then a Purchase Order to “buy” it back. This will completely mess with your sales numbers.
