farmed-out manufacturing (supported by Hamblock/Wesels)

TRW, which supplies auto manufacturers with a huge number of components and systems, is recalling more than 300,000 Ford and General Motors vehicles from the 2000 model year. The problem involves the bases on seatbelt buckle assemblies that were not properly heat treated. That left them weaker than Federal regulations require, prompting concerns that occupants might not be properly restrained during an accident. The situation arose when a TRW supplier "farmed-out" manufacturing to another subcontractor for a two-week period last April, following a factory fire. Owners are presently being notified of the recall and what they must do.

So-called outsourcers benefited in recent years as Hewlett- Packard Co. and other U.S. firms farmed out manufacturing to focus on new products. Now, they are riding the wave back down as HP, Motorola Inc. and other technology companies face weaker sales of everything from personal computers to cellular phones, reducing the need for computer chips, printed circuit boards and other critical parts.

Might be contract production or contract processing or toll processing. The first two are from standard business dictionaries for Lohnveredelung and the third is what my oldest customer at ExxonMobil has been using since 1992 for the type of contract where he has his waxes blended in somebody else's plant before delivering the blended waxes to his own customer. At least in the oil industry it seems to be a common expression. You might be able to see from the rest of your context if this fits.

A product from one business is further processed by another business but then sold to customers of the first business.

HTH

Dan

I see a problem here - as "gering" could mean that the contract terms are so low for outside manufacturing that quality becomes a problem (abweichung=deviation) or "gering" could mean the relatively low proportion of parts or steps in part-making which are done by external original equipment manufacturers.

"Outside processing" may be wrong - and is Oracle speak. (Get it? :-)
The sound of it is, of course, less like the German, where assembly or pre-assembly of parts which are then possibly considered as vendor managed inventory and given "added value" through outside processing before being placed alongside the assembly line for final assembly as part of a system (front end/axle/what-have-you).

Certainly, I agree with the other suggestions - am simply adding my 2 cents. Plus the distinction is hard to make whether there is a contract manufacturing step for an existing sub-component where added value is input through processsing or whether a (sub)component part results from building something from scratch. (see this link:http://www.mysap.com/solutions/industry/hightech/sm_he2000/2...
and compare it with the 2nd ref. link below to see how "contract manufacturing" is organized in the "terms family" at mysap.com

Experience:
16 years working with Phoenix AG, supplier to several automobile manufacturers + recent work with ERP materials management solutions.