Outsource Production

Outsourcing production allows you to take advantage of the skills and equipment of other fulfillment centers to enhance your own capabilities. Additionally, you can offer your fulfillment center as an outsourcing partner to other centers, providing an opportunity to generate additional income. This article will explain how to set up both types of outsourcing arrangements.

Outsourcing involves taking a product from the production node in your Business Hub and assigning it to be produced by another fulfillment center. Once the product has been received and completed by the external fulfillment center, it returns to your system marked as "production complete" and moves to the shipping node.

There are some limitations to be aware of. Outsourcing does not manage shipping, whether it's between fulfillment centers or blind-shipped from the production center to the customer. Financial arrangements also need to be handled separately. If you’re outsourcing decoration processes that you can’t support in-house, you must still enable the relevant process in Admin > Decoration Processes to make these options available in your system.

To set up an outsourcing arrangement, the receiving fulfillment center (which performs the actual production) must first enable "inbound outsourcing." The fulfillment center seeking outsourcing must then set up an "outbound link" to the producing center. Once both parties have confirmed their settings, the outsourcing process can begin.

In this tutorial, we will guide you through the steps to set up and manage both inbound and outbound outsourcing in DecoNetwork. By the end of this guide, you will be equipped with the knowledge to efficiently leverage the capabilities of other fulfillment centers and enhance your business operations.

Prerequisites

• You must have administrator access to use this feature
• The Outsource Production app must be enabled

To Configure Outsourcing of Production:

1. Log into your DecoNetwork Website.
2. Browse to Admin > Settings.
3. Select Production & Order Settings, then Outsource Production.

   

   

   The Outsource Production configuration page will be displayed.

   
4. Configure inbound and outbound outsourcing as required.

   To Set Up Inbound Outsourcing:

   1. Click on the Configure Settings button in the Breadcrumb and Menu Bar.
      

      The inbound production settings page is displayed.

      
   2. Tick the Enable my fulfillment center to accept inbound orders from other DecoNetwork members checkbox.

      Take note of your Outsource ID number as other centers that wish to use you in an outsourcing arrangement must reach you via this number.

      
   3. If you wish to publicize your outsourcing capabilities on your web store, tick the Display my Outsource ID number on primary website.
   4. When you are done, click Save.

      Fulfillment centers that are requesting you take their production will appear in the main work area with the link type listed as unconfirmed.

      

      To accept the link request, click Manage, then click Enable this Link to finalize.

      

   To Outbound Set Up Outsourcing:

   1. Select Link to a FulFillment Center.
      
   2. Enter the Outsource ID of the external fulfillment center.
      
   3. Click Search.

      The company overview of the outbound fulfillment center is displayed.

      
   4. When you are done, click Save.

      Your outsource link request must then be approved by the fulfillment center which will be conducting production on your behalf. The link will appear as unconfirmed until this happens.

      

      You may at any time disable or cancel any outsourcing arrangement by clicking Manage from the outsourcing list, then clicking Cancel this Link Request.

      

   To Outsource a Product being Ordered:

   1. Log into Business Hub.
   2. Click Production.
   3. Select the products you wish to outsource.
   4. Click Outsource Selected Items in the Actions menu.
      

      The Outsource Items popup will be displayed showing a list of the items you have selected to be outsourced.

      
   5. Click OK.
   6. The selected items will then go to the inbound fulfillment center for production, where the products appear in the production node with an outsourced icon next to it. Once production has been completed, the products will move into your shipping node.