Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Kitting
Many open source hardware products have an aspect of kitting. The open source hardware
community normally thinks of a
kit
as having loose parts that are intended to be put togeth-
erbytheenduser.Kitsgenerallyrequirelessmanufacturing duetotheDIYnature—that is,
the end user is responsible for building or assembling the kit. But do not underestimate the
difficulties and complexities behind kitting. A kit has to be counted carefully
every single
time.
Imagine you received a LEGO kit as a gift: How would you feel if you discovered
some of the blocks were missing? An incomplete kit is a horrible user experience that can
tarnish the initial impression of your product.
Kitting takes time and considerable amounts of checks and balances along the way.
Build your kit in 50- or 100-unit batches. Pre-count all of the components necessary to
complete the batch. If you end up with an extra screw, you will know there is a kit missing
a screw. Use plastic cups or bins to help divide up the kits. If you can create a location for
each part of the kit within the box, it will make visual inspection much easier. We laser-
cut foam with holes and tabs for the specific components like stand-offs, buzzers, and ICs
within our kits. It's much easier and faster to see a void than it is to count to 17 over and
over. At SparkFun, we even go so far as to create a kit photo showing the location of the
pieces within the box for our employees. This gives the end user the same box-opening
experience no matter who built the kit or when it was built. Once you're done with a
batch, have someone spot count 15% of the batch. If any errors are found, then the entire
batch must be reviewed.
The bill of materials for a device often includes capacitors and resistors, but for kits,
you'll need to create an assembly BOM that includes things like plastic bags and pack-
aging materials as well. Just like keeping enough 0.1-uF capacitors and 10K resistors on
hand, you'll need to keep tabs on your kitting materials as well. Also remember that if you
are shipping a USB cable with a circuit board, this has an aspect of kitting, too, and these
items will need to be kitted together as well.
