Processes a manufacturer can outsource, and what stays

Key takeaways

Manufacturing admin outsourcing moves the office processes that surround production: order entry, purchase orders and chasing, supplier invoices, export and import paperwork, customer order queries and reporting. Production planning, quality decisions, health and safety on the shop floor and key customer relationships stay on site.

• Outsource: order entry, POs, invoices, shipping paperwork, order queries.
• Split: inventory planning, quality records, reporting.
• Keep: production planning, quality decisions, site safety.
• Start with order entry or supplier chasing.

Which manufacturing office processes outsource well?

Order entry from emails and portals, order acknowledgements, purchase orders and supplier chasing, three-way matching of supplier invoices, customs and export documentation, customer queries about order status, and daily or weekly reporting. These processes are high volume, rule-based and often handled by skilled staff who should be on other work.

• Which business processes should you outsource?
• Order processing outsourcing for manufacturers and brands
• Customs paperwork support for UK importers and exporters

Which processes should be split?

Inventory planning, where reorder checks move and safety stock decisions stay. Quality records, where data entry and document control move and quality judgements stay. Reporting, where data refresh moves and decisions stay.

• Inventory: checks out, commitments in.
• Quality: records out, judgements in.
• Reporting: refresh out, decisions in.

• Inventory planning: outsource the reorder routine
• Document control: one current version of everything

What stays on site?

Production planning and scheduling decisions, quality acceptance and non-conformance decisions, health and safety on the shop floor, supplier strategy and relationships with key customers. These depend on being close to the work and carry legal and commercial accountability.

• Health and safety admin: what you can hand over
• Supplier relationships: why the owner keeps the key ones

Where should a manufacturer start?

With the process that most often delays orders or distracts skilled people: order entry from customer emails, or chasing suppliers for delivery dates. Both run daily, have clear outputs and show results within weeks. Export paperwork is a good second step if you ship overseas.

• Supplier chasing: expedite orders before they slip
• The process selection score: outsource, split or keep?

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: production managers spend part of every day on emails about order status and supplier delays. Moving that office work gives them the time to manage production.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Manufacturer process checklist

Use these to choose your first process.

• List office processes with daily hours.
• Mark which delay orders when they slip.
• Note which skilled staff currently do them.
• Check system access for each.
• Start with one daily, rule-based process.

• Operations processes to outsource as you grow
• Three-way matching: stop paying invoices you should not

Next step

Tell us which office processes your team spends most time on. We will suggest which to move first and what it would take.