Kitting is a process where warehouse workers take multiple components with different stock keeping units (SKUs) and package them as a single SKU. While items within a retail or direct sale kit can often be purchased individually, kitting items together offers buyers a convenient method for purchasing multiple items they will need anyway. Outside of direct sales, manufacturers may often kit related components for easier assembly at a later date.

How Kitting Can Help

Kitting is a broad term for packaging related items into groups. This process can help businesses in a variety of ways.

Consolidating Costs

Using data analytics, companies can identify products that are frequently purchased together then package them in a kit. Kitting provides the dual benefits of optimizing the customer shopping experience while cutting costs related to picking and packaging multiple items on an order. For example, if an online hardware seller sees that paint rollers, brushes, and pans are all purchased together, consolidating these items into a single kit may provide an attractive option for customers while minimizing the picking fees associated with the individual items for the merchant. Additionally, by kitting, some of the protective packaging for individual items can be eliminated and replaced with custom packaging, reducing the weight and shipping costs.

Better Marketing

By offering a selection of items, kitting exposes buyers to more products. In addition, the customer no longer has to remember all the individual items that would commonly be needed alongside the primary product they intended to purchase. Kitting also gives vendors the opportunity to package new products with high selling items to introduce them to the market. Kitting affords the customer the chance to try a new product they may have otherwise overlooked.

Faster Assembly

Parts such as engines or mechanical equipment are often manufactured using an array of contract manufacturers and other vendors. Rather than sending individual components on to original equipment manufacturer (OEMs) for assembly, many OEMs will request that items be kitted for their assemblers in advance. This way, skilled assemblers can just pluck each item out of the kit in order, drastically improving the efficiency of the assembly process.

What the Benefits of Kitting for Warehouses?

Kits offer substantial benefits for distribution and fulfillment operations. Some of these advantages include:

• Faster processing. Every individual item ordered must be picked from inventory, delivered to the packaging station, packed for shipping, labeled, and shipped out of the warehouse. This overall process is exponentially faster when multiple items are consolidated into a kit.
• Optimized labor. The warehousing sector often has difficulty remaining fully staffed due to an ongoing labor shortage in the logistics sector. Kitted items reduce the number of individual items that need to be picked, ultimately contributing to an optimized labor force.
• Increased accuracy. By consolidating multiple items into a single kit, the risk of one item in the order being wrongly picked decreases significantly. As such, kitting mitigates the risk of errors.
• Enhanced efficiency. Picking products and updating orders takes time, as does packing and printing shipping labels. By combining items into a kit, the entire fulfillment process becomes more efficient.

Precision Warehousing and Fulfillment With JONCO Industries

Kitting is a convenient way to offer convenience to customers and create savings in labor costs, processing time, and warehouse space for businesses. It can also enhance the customer experience by reducing the risk of order errors in fulfillment and shipping. When you need an experienced partner for warehouse kitting, JONCO is here to help.

With an extensive selection of materials, die-cuts, and solutions for protective, dry, or liquid packaging, the experienced team at JONCO is confident we have everything you need for your kitting solutions and more. We are proud not only of our packaging capabilities, but our entire service portfolio. From concept through the design and manufacture of your custom packaging solutions, we consistently strive to meet and exceed your expectations. When you work with our experienced team, you’ll have the assurance that we will fulfill your products with style, unwavering quality, and protection you can count on.

For more information on our capabilities, contact us or request a quote today.