Kitting and time efficiency in manual assembly

The present paper focuses on parts presentation in manual assembly. Its aim is to determine how kitting affects the time spent by the assembler fetching parts and, more specifically, what is the impact of the proportion of parts included in the kit. The present paper is based on four case studies of automobile assembly, in which parts presentation by kitting is compared with parts presentation in component racks. In the case studies, kitting enabled shorter distances between parts presentation and assembly object and thereby a potential reduction in the time spent fetching parts. However, when only a proportion of parts were kitted, the time spent fetching parts was not always reduced, in spite of this potential. The present paper finds that when deciding which parts should be kitted, attention should be paid to how and in what order assembly operations are performed.