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The Importance of Kitting in COVID Vaccine Distribution

Posted by BMcGoldrick on Nov. 30, 2021  /  News  /  Subscribe 0

by St. Claire Gerald

Due to the disruption caused by the COVID -19 pandemic, many more people now understand that we live in a global society and that global supply chains power the world.

From the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) needed by our frontline healthcare professionals, to the medicines and medical equipment we need, to the food in our grocery stores. All of these products start with raw materials processed through an often-complex global supply chain until they reach the consumer.

Regardless of how brilliant the product design, engineering, and marketing, the consumer will be disappointed if the supply chain is not able to deliver that brilliant product to the right place, at the right time, and  in good condition.

Supply chain professionals are the conductors of this globally dispersed orchestra of trucks, planes, trains, ships, and facilities allowing firms to deliver on their promise to customers, whether that customer is a retail location or a hospital. Managing this constant change is all in a day’s work for supply chain professionals, but success doesn’t happen without thoughtful planning.

As we have seen, having an effective vaccine against COVID is only half the battle. Getting those vaccines to the right place, at the right time, in good condition and then getting shots in arms is the other half of the battle.

The complexity of cold chain logistics that is required by the Pfizer vaccine is another challenge that we face, but that is a discussion for another article. Today we are going to focus on the process of kitting.

What is Kitting?

Kitting is an inventory technique where individual, but related products are packaged and shipped together as a single bundle. For example, one form of kitting that has taken off in recent months is the idea of combining vaccination supplies.

A typical COVID-19 vaccination provider kit would include:

• Needles
• Syringes
• Alcohol prep pads
• Surgical masks and face shields for vaccinators

NPR noted that we’ll need 6 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses globally to vaccinate everyone. That’s a lot of vials and even more needles and syringes. 

All of these individual items could be made by separate manufacturers, but need to be made available in one kit for the vaccinators along with the actual vaccine. Having the vaccine without adequate ancillary kits defeats the end game of getting shots in arms.

The Kitting Process.

The kitting process is relatively simple and requires the assembly of any number of products and assigning them a single SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) in your system for picking and sale. This requires only a few steps.

1. Determine what items will go into a kit. This can be done based on product use, size or other shared qualities.
2. Assign this new bundle a unique SKU in your system. Though individual products, once bundled they represent a single sellable product. Your inventory system should track this so you have better insight into sales trends and proper physical counts of inventory.
3. Assemble the items. All items in the kit need to be relocated in your warehouse so that they can be easily bundled by your team. This increases efficiency and saves time and money.

Another variation of kitting is used in retail. A retailer of say t-shirts will asks a supplier to pack t-shirts in a Musical Size Run which is another form of a kit. A Musical Size Run can contain an allocation of 1 small, 2 medium, 2 large, and 1 extra large in a bundled unit.

This unit of 6 t-shirts can be packed in a pickable polybag unit (sometimes called a case lot) or packed in its own shippable carton. When an allocator decides to distribute this particular assortment, it is already bundled and ready to go. There is no need for a picker to go to 4 separate SKU locations for the smalls, mediums, larges, and extra larges.

This can increase efficiency in a distribution facility by reducing the number of touches to pick product to ship to a retail location.

Summary

Kitting can come in various forms. However, when used effectively it can increase efficiency and reduce cost in a warehousing and distribution environment by facilitating throughput and reducing touches.

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