[Blog]()Production # Subcontracted production: sent materials, progress and returns Material left your warehouse; you still need to know what was transformed, what returned and what remains in external custody. **[Jonathan Perez]()**Co-founder · Design, product and sales October 8, 2026 · 8 min read **Short answer** Link each subcontracted job to components dispatched, reported progress and received outputs. Separate accepted product, unused components returned, substantiated losses and material still outside. Test a partial receipt and its retry; sending inputs does not prove completed manufacture or quality acceptance. ## Subcontracted material reconciliation Ten tests of dispatch, transformation, partial receipt, unused returns and external-custody discrepancies. [Download CSV worksheet]() In this guide - [What should identify external work?]() - [Example: one hundred components, two partial deliveries]() - [What does the workshop's report prove?]() - [When can you close the job?]() - [What should the demonstration establish?]() - [What should you bring to a diagnosis?]() ## What should identify external work? Record workshop or supplier, order, effective recipe, materials, lots and units. A component may be outside your site in the workshop's custody without implying sale, complete consumption or loss. Define who reports progress, who receives and who accepts. Contractual relationships and accounting treatment require their own review; this control explains operational quantities and does not determine legal ownership. Odoo describes resupplying components to a subcontractor that manufactures the product and delivers finished goods. Its workflow distinguishes component dispatch and output receipt. [Resupply subcontracting](). Verify routes and documents for your configuration: multistep warehouses may need additional validations. That documentation does not establish your loss tolerances or acceptance criteria. ## Example: one hundred components, two partial deliveries **Synthetic job SC100** The workshop receives 100 components. Each finished set incorporates exactly 2 components in this exercise, without other changes to that quantity. The outcome is 40 sets, 15 unused components and 5 documented lost components. | Stage |Accepted sets |Unused returned |Accepted loss |Components still outside | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Dispatch S01 |0 |0 |0 |100 | | Receipt P01 |25 = 50 components |5 |2 |43 | | Additional receipt P02 |15 = 30 components |10 |3 |0 | | Total |40 = 80 components |15 |5 |0 | Forty-three remain after P01: one hundred minus fifty incorporated, five returned and two accepted lost. P02 explains those forty-three as thirty incorporated, ten unused and three lost. The final total is eighty plus fifteen plus five, equaling one hundred. Do not add forty sets and fifteen components as if they shared a unit; retain the exercise recipe's two-components-per-set relationship. ## What does the workshop's report prove? A photo or '25 ready' notice reports progress. It does not establish arrival or inspection acceptance. Retain reported, in-transit, received and accepted quantities when your process distinguishes them. If twenty-five arrive and quality holds two, acceptance shows twenty-three and two pending, while components incorporated in all twenty-five remain explained. A rejection does not automatically make those components lost without determining the sets' disposition. ERP36 publishes sent-material and received-product controls for subcontracted production. [Subcontracting features](). This is a vendor description, not independent verification of its results. Use it to compare coverage and require your own partial case. If the workshop declares five lost without support, retain the statement and review item; do not mark outside stock zero as though its explanation were accepted. ## When can you close the job? Close when every sent component has an explainable destination and outstanding decisions remain identified. An external balance may be work in progress, unused stock awaiting return or a discrepancy under investigation. Distinguish a usable return from damaged material arriving back. Keep dispatch, receipt and disposition documents; correcting an entry must reference the prior data rather than erase the workshop's history. ## What should the demonstration establish? - Normal: S01, P01 and P02 reconcile by job, component and recipe; both receipts result in 40 sets. - Exception: declared loss without a decision retains its pending item and owner; it cannot silently close the balance. - Quality: received, held goods retain location and their relationship to incorporated material. - Retry: repeating P01 neither adds another 25 sets nor returns another five components. - Change: different quantities under the same report identity require review; a new delivery uses its own reference. ## What should you bring to a diagnosis? Complete the [external materials worksheet]() with one job and an incomplete return. [Materials revisions]() explain equivalents; [inventory between warehouses]() covers internal transfers. To scope [production control](), also bring a workshop report that disagrees with receipt. The difference defines concrete states and decisions without promising that any supplier portal proves completed work. ## Review a partial delivery from an outside workshop In a free diagnosis we can separate dispatched, reported, received and still unexplained quantities. - One component dispatch with lots and quantities. - The recipe and a partial workshop report. - Receipts, unused returns or losses that do not reconcile. [Book a free consultation]()[Ask on WhatsApp]() Related - [Production control]() - [Manufacturing software]() ## Frequently asked questions ### Does sending materials automatically consume everything? Do not assume so. Distinguish external location, reported consumption and received output under your configuration's rules and documents. ### Does a product photo prove receipt? No. It can support reported progress. Arrival, received quantity and inspection require their own records. ### Can I add components and finished sets together? Only through a relationship defined in a relevant recipe. The example uses two components per set; do not generalize that equivalence to other products. ### How do I close a loss the workshop has not explained? Retain its statement and a pending item with an owner. Operational closure should not present disputed loss as accepted disposition. ## Sources 1. [Resupply subcontracting components]()Odoo 2. [Subcontracted material and production tracking]()i36t / ERP36 Last updated: October 8, 2026 ## Keep reading [InventoryOct 8, 2026 ### Partial purchase receipts: arrived, outstanding and rejected]()[ProductionOct 8, 2026 ### Bill of materials: revisions that preserve work already underway]()[ProductionOct 8, 2026 ### Production scrap: consumption, loss and recoverable material]() --- Canonical: https://nightlysoftware.com/en/blog/subcontracted-production-tracking Updated: 2026-10-08 Description: Track subcontracted materials, partial receipts, unused returns and losses without confusing dispatch with accepted finished product.