From Order to Production: Outbound Deliveries

Every production process in P4 starts with an Outbound Delivery.

An Outbound Delivery represents a customer order or demand that must be fulfilled by production. It defines what needs to be produced, in what quantity, and by when.
Without a correctly prepared Outbound Delivery, production planning and execution cannot work reliably.

This page explains:

• what an Outbound Delivery is in P4,

• when and why you need it,

• how to create one that is ready for production.

What is an Outbound Delivery in P4?

An Outbound Delivery is the entry point into production.

In simple terms:

• it describes what the customer wants,

• production later decides how and where it will be produced.

An Outbound Delivery typically contains:

• customer or destination information,

• one or more materials,

• required quantities,

• requested delivery date.

At this stage, no production line and no production sequence is defined yet.

That separation is intentional:

• Outbound Delivery = demand

• Production Items = execution units

• Production Lines = capacity

When do you need an Outbound Delivery?

You need an Outbound Delivery whenever:

• production is triggered by customer demand,

• production results must be linked to an order,

• lead time, performance, or delivery KPIs are evaluated later.

If production exists without an Outbound Delivery, it becomes difficult to:

• track fulfillment,

• measure production lead time,

• connect results to customer orders.

For Getting Started, always assume:

Outbound Delivery is mandatory for production.

Creating a new Outbound Delivery

To create an Outbound Delivery:

1. Open Outbound Deliveries from the main menu.

2. Click Create.

3. Fill in the required header information (customer, dates).

4. Add one or more materials with quantities.

5. Save the Outbound Delivery.

At this point:

• the order exists in the system,

• but nothing is planned or produced yet.

This is expected.

What happens after creation?

After an Outbound Delivery is created:

• it becomes available for production planning,

• Production Items can be generated from it.

Production Items are the actual units that will be scheduled and produced.
They are created based on the Outbound Delivery, not instead of it.

Think of it as:

• Outbound Delivery = what needs to be fulfilled

• Production Items = what will actually run through production

The next step explains this in detail.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Incomplete material data
  Materials must be production-ready (routing, handling units, etc.), otherwise Production Items may end up in Redbox later.

• Wrong or missing delivery dates
  Delivery dates are used during planning and reporting. Incorrect dates lead to misleading priorities.

• Expecting production to start automatically
  Creating an Outbound Delivery does not start production. It only creates demand.

What you should be able to do now

After completing this step, you should:

• understand the role of Outbound Deliveries in production,

• be able to create an Outbound Delivery,

• know that production planning starts only after Production Items are created.

➡ Next step:
Production Items – Breaking Orders into Production Units

This is where production actually begins.