Whether you've provided kitting and assembly services for years, are just starting your kitting and assembly business or you finally decided to develop your own kitting and assembly solutions for the products you manufacture or sell, increase your knowledge and understanding of the business to help increase your productivity and profits. Prepare yourself, however; if you really want to read up on kitting and assembly services news and trends, you'll need to dig deep.

You won't exactly find a wealth of information sources for the latest trends with kitting and assembly providers, but if you know where to go, you can uncover relevant and important information to assist in your kitting and assembly service decision making. Look for information online and through:

1. Supply chain magazines that address kitting services and kitting and assembly equipment.

2. Industry websites with information on fulfillment assembly and kitting service.

3. Websites belonging to kitting and assembly service providers.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Go straight to the competition to find the latest trends in kitting

So often, the greatest ideas come from observing what your competition's doing. By checking out the website of another kitting and assembly service provider, you'll get an idea how you stand in terms of the number of services you offer, accuracy and types of kitting and assembly equipment used.

I recommend: Find out what makes IntegraCore so confident and successful in the kitting and assembly portion of its business by looking on its website. Taking a look at its list of clients on the right side of the page, you understand the company takes full advantage of available technology, training and management to produce great results. See if your company is realizing the same benefits as Industrial Specialties, a company that originally began more than 30 years ago and expanded in 1995. Check out the scope of services offered by Zomax to see if there's something else you could add to your portfolio to generate additional profit.

Look for industry magazines that address assembly kitting

You'll find nuggets of information in industry magazines that deal with the latest news and trends in kitting and assembly services.

I recommend: Start with Packaging World Magazine to find trends in kitting and assembly. Bookmark the online magazine so you can search for the latest articles in kitting and assembly whenever you want. Get a lead on companies making changes in kitting logistics through articles in Supply & Demand Chain Executive. Not only will this magazine include information about other kitting and assembly businesses, it can provide you with lots of contacts about other potential customers that you can serve. Keep up with the latest products from Pharmaceutical and Medical Packaging News.

Take advantage of other websites that include kitting and assembly equipment services information

Look for other websites that can help you sift out the latest in news and trends assembly kitting.

I recommend: Use the resources of the Contract Packaging Association to learn more about news and trends in the industry. Order the State of the Contract Packaging Industry Report to learn more about this industry. Bookmark SMTnet as a source for the latest kitting and assembly service equipment news. Use this industry portal site to find your next piece of kitting equipment for growing your business. Look for articles dealing with new developments in kitting services on the BNET website. Designed for managers, small business owners and other professionals, the site offers tools, information and insight needed to succeed in business. You'll find relevant articles regarding kitting and other related industries like logistics, supply chain and fulfillment.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you haven't already, look for an opportunity to leverage RF technology to vastly increase the speed and accuracy of your kitting and assembly service.

By outsourcing your kitting and assembly functions, you can go a long way toward reducing overhead costs, improving your profit margins and keeping your product prices competitive. Many businesses often blaze through their busy seasons and then suffer through the slow periods. During the slow times, they might spend weeks or months confronting nearly empty warehouses for which they're paying precious money to own/lease and operate. They spend money on kitting and assembly equipment and the employees who perform the kitting and assembly.

Outsourcing fulfillment assembly, kitting services and other fulfillment tasks can easily eliminate your need for warehouse space, reduce your number of employees, increase your efficiency and productivity and allow you to focus a greater percentage of your overall effort on what counts most: marketing, selling and manufacturing your product. When researching kitting and assembly service providers:

1. Compare rates for inventory kitting services.

2. Make the best use of the services the provider offers.

3. Learn the kitting and assembly provider's reputation for service delivered.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Shop the rates for kitting and assembly services

Chances are you're going to pay less to outsource kitting and assembly than you will to keep the functions in house, but still shop around for the best rates and quality of services provided.

I recommend: Visit VendorSeek for a list of fees associated with fulfillment services, and let them prepare a comparison of up to five kitting and assembly quotes for you.

Ensure the kitting service can meet all your needs

Consider whether you need stock kitting or on-demand kitting, and feel confident about how fast a kitting and assembly service provider can turn your product after it receives orders.

I recommend: IntegraCore, a full-service fulfillment company with a strong list of clients, offers free resources like initial consultations and an online tool that shows how much you can potentially save by outsourcing with them.

Feel confident about the quality of the assembly kitting provider you're considering

If possible, use people in your business networking circle and listen to the success and horror stories they tell about their specific assembly kitting outsourcing experiences. Online, some kitting services provide testimonials from their clients.

I recommend: Read some of the client comments displayed at Fulfillment Works. You can also check out Capacity's testimonials and a partial list of its clients.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Consider other value-added services that could save you money in the long run when you research kitting services. Many of those same businesses also provide services for call center functions, credit card processing, customer satisfaction tracking, handling returns and inventory control.
• •  Beware of hidden costs during your due diligence. Ensure you only pay for the services you request, and make them provide you with the total cost for services rendered.

If you own and operate a kitting and assembly service business or include your own kitting and assembly solutions within your warehouse or manufacturing facility, getting what you need quickly can make all the difference in getting your product out of your facility promptly or just in time. Knowing where to go for equipment and supplies will get you halfway there.

The amount of kitting and assembly services equipment you need depends on you; you may choose to start out very simple by kitting your own product or subcontracting exclusively with an appliance or CD/DVD manufacturer to kit its product. Later, you may opt to grow your business and add different products to your kitting/assembly portfolio. You may kit for assembly or you may provide a kitting service as simple as including an instruction manual with a product, but you'll need the right equipment and supplies for kitting and assembly services to keep you organized and on schedule. In this guide you'll find providers for:

1. Kitting and assembly equipment.

2. Basic supplies for your kitting service.

3. Software that will help push you ahead of other kitting and assembly service providers.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Put the right kitting and assembly equipment in place

Whether you're setting up a new kitting and assembly business or just need a source for supplies and spare parts, getting what you need quickly can make all the difference; getting it within your budget may pose its own challenges, so it remains important to understand exactly what equipment and supplies you need and what you can do without.

I recommend: If you're ready to upgrade and automate your assembly kitting process, learn more about the Worksmart Systems Fleximate Integrated assembly systems and the Dematic kitting systems. Read more about the importance of the static protection you get from Partfolio kitting systems if you offer electronic parts inventory kitting services. Select the Lista link you need to find out more about equipment/furniture to improve the speed, organization and efficiency of your kitting and assembly service.

Find a reliable source for basic fulfillment assembly and kitting supplies

As a kitting and assembly service provider, you need a reliable supplier that carries many of the basic supplies you use most.

I recommend: Uline, a reputable shipping and packaging supply specialist, carries everything from shrink wrap, corrugated boxes, cushioning/peanuts/foam, bar code labels, poly bags, packing list envelopes and much more. Paper Mart offers kitting and assembly providers with daily supplies to keep their businesses running smoothly. The company ships on the same day it receives orders and promises ultra competitive prices, even with shipping costs included.

Invest in the right software to improve your assembly and kitting logistics

Speed up your manual operation with software that will improve your operation's efficiency, productivity and quality.

I recommend: If you own an Ebusiness that sells gift baskets or often fills single orders with multiple SKUs, check out the inventory control software from Nexternal. This software enables you to set up product kits or bundles as master products. Learn more about the inventory control/kitting software from AccountMate Software Corporation. Its many features let you customize kit formulas, view total estimated kit item costs, build kits quickly, disassemble kits, track kit transactions, assign serial numbers to kit items and more.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you're just starting your kitting and assembly business or incorporating it into an existing business, examine the footprint of your facility first to ensure you can create an efficient kitting and assembly production line and have plenty of room to store inventory and supplies.

Kitting and assembly are essential functions of any manufacturing operation. Often times, manufacturers decide to contract out the kitting or assembly operation to improve the company's bottom line and concentrate solely on its core competency. If you're considering starting your own kitting and assembly business or even if you're thinking about bringing your kitting operation back into your manufacturing plant, familiarize yourself with the terminology relevant to kitting and assembly before you take on the task.

This guide focuses on six terms to get you started. It starts with the basic definition of kitting and then defines acronyms and different pieces of equipment. Terms include BOM, SKU, pick-to-light system, vertical carousel and vertical lift system.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Kitting

Kitting refers to the process of grouping individual-but related-components and parts together and then packaging them for production assembly or shipping.

I recommend: Learn more about how a kitting operation works by reading the description at Full Perspective Services, a company providing fulfillment services.

BOM

BOM is an acronym that stands for bill of materials. It's the list of everything required to produce a finished product and the quantities needed. A BOM includes raw materials, sub- and intermediate assemblies, components and sub-components and all parts. BOMs are used throughout the manufacturing cycle, including kitting operations.

I recommend: Read more about how BOM software, rather than simple spreadsheets, can help improve BOM management at the Active Sensing website.

SKU

SKU stands for stock keeping unit. It's the method of identifying every product and part with a unique number. In kitting and assembly, workers assemble and package multiple SKUs to form a new product that carries its own SKU. The SKU itself is a string of letters and numbers. A SKU is also known as a part number or product number.

I recommend: Learn about SKUs by reading the article dealing with SKU proliferation at the ShelfPlus Automated Storage Concepts website.

Pick-to-light system

Pick-to-light is a technology that improves cost efficiency through improved accuracy and productivity. A pick-to-light system incorporates lights that light up each pick site and LED displays that display the amount to be picked. These systems work well with horizontal carousels and carton flow rack applications.

I recommend: Read the article at ThomasNet to learn more about a pick-to-light system that further increases efficiency and accuracy by removing the need to continually press buttons following each pick.

Vertical carousel

A vertical carousel is essentially rotating shelving that operates round a conveyor loop moving in a vertical direction and is designed to speed up processes like kitting and order picking.

I recommend: Review the case study at Cisco-Eagle to learn how vertical carousels increased one company's productivity while saving space and using fewer people.

Vertical Lift Module (VLM)

A vertical lift module is an enclosed, automated retrieval and storage system useful in kitting, assembly and other warehouse applications.

I recommend: Learn more about the Remstar Shuttle Vertical Lift Module and its benefits at the Remstar website. By clicking on the "Multimedia" link at the top right, you can get loads of information via audio and video.