Hiring help to assemble kits

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Get help, and assist others in with open source kits and running a business! Do not ask for legal advice or for consulting services in this forum, only general biz questions!
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ben
 
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Hiring help to assemble kits

Post by ben »

Hello,

I have a simple robotics kit that I have taught in several summer classes to kids and adults, and I'm thinking about starting a kit business online. If I'm successful, and can sell several hundred or so, can I then hire someone or a company to order the parts in bulk, package them, ship, and handle returns/complaints? I know there are businesses to answer your calls, administer your business, etc. but are there companies that will assemble a kit from your instructions?

I know this is an optimistic scenario and it'll take some serious work to get there, but I'm not sure I want to invest the effort if success will mean spending all my time filling orders instead of teaching and inventing.

Thanks for your help!
Ben

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macegr
 
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Re: Hiring help to assemble kits

Post by macegr »

How many different parts are required for this kit? I was thinking of setting up this type of business with some friends, but looking about six or nine months ahead when my own store is doing better. If there is already demand we might move up the schedule a bit. I think we would be more interested in mostly-complete products, but if there aren't many parts to sort, it could still work. If it's something like 50 small parts, that's probably outside our market.

Otherwise you might consider selling the rights to Sparkfun or adafruit or even Velleman if the kit would be popular.

adafruit
 
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Re: Hiring help to assemble kits

Post by adafruit »

you'll find that if the company is doing all the kitting, selling, shipping, and customer management then you are pretty much just licensing your design and not so much in the kit business yourself. In that case, you wouldn't be getting very much money, about 10% of the final price is usually the 'top end' which may be just fine by you.

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macegr
 
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Re: Hiring help to assemble kits

Post by macegr »

Order fulfillment is actually rented storage (minimal for small stuff) and then flat-rate or weight/count based charges per package. The web store, selling, and design of the actual product are still controlled by the stock owner.

I was actually thinking about this for my day job, too. We ship a lot of stuff right now, but if we get too much more, we'd have to hire someone to do shipping. If an order fulfillment service charges $2 per box (a bit low), then someone hired at $15 per hour needs to pick, pack, weigh, label, and ship seven packages per hour to end up cheaper than the outside service. Even at $3 per package, an employee would need to do five packages an hour which is pretty respectable if orders can have 5 to 25 items each. Any less than five packages per hour and you're losing money.

Right now we do all of our own packing, both at work and at my own business. It wouldn't make sense to hire someone, or do order fulfillment, since we can easily handle the current order volume and pocket the few extra dollars profit. But for someone who is doing enough volume to consider hiring an employee, it might be a good option. Amazon actually has an order fulfillment service too, with a per package, per weight, and per pick fee. But they wouldn't build up kits, for sure.

adafruit
 
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Re: Hiring help to assemble kits

Post by adafruit »

yes, order fulfillment services abound
but the poster was not asking about that. he wants them to order parts, make kits, package them to some extent, keep stock, etc.
that is much more complicated and requires significant risk

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macegr
 
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Re: Hiring help to assemble kits

Post by macegr »

I don't know, it still seems like order fulfillment to me, but on a micro scale. It would only be physical packing, no design or tech support.

If there aren't order fulfillment shops that will bag up components, it seems like an interesting opportunity.

Actually it would be neat if Digikey was able to do this for small businesses. Their automated warehouses are amazing and they deal with millions of tiny parts. I know that a lot of semiconductor companies now do their samples through Digikey's warehouses, TI for example. It would just require inserting any unique small business stock into the inventory system, and then provide an interface to do addressing and a pick map for the unique stock and the standard components. The small business owner wouldn't even have to buy standard components until the moment an order was placed. Discount structure would need to be addressed....

Cool but unlikely I guess.

ben
 
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Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 1:34 am

Re: Hiring help to assemble kits

Post by ben »

Thanks for the feedback! I didn't know to search for "order fulfillment services" or "kitting", so that is very helpful. Is there a good book or site that has a nice overview of outsourcing kit creation? I hate to ask such basic questions if there's a good FAQ somewhere.

For my kit specifically, I expect it to have about 30 parts, depending on what I can find to replace the random pieces I have been using so far. This raises question: I know how to bulk-order the electronics, motors, and gears for the kit, but what's a good way to source the odd mechanical pieces? For example, I'll need two 1/2" diameter rubber cups (they look like tiny toilet plungers without the wood). I originally found them at a surplus store, but those supplies are limited. Likewise, for the body of the robot, I've been using wood that I've cut for 10-20 kits at a time, but I have no intention of doing that for 50+ kits. I was thinking of ordering a lot of pieces from McMaster-Carr or equivalent, and seeing what works, but any advice here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!
Ben

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macegr
 
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Re: Hiring help to assemble kits

Post by macegr »

Your cups sound like they might be standard suction cups, McMaster most likely has them. If there is supposed to be a hole into the inside of the cup, seach for "vacuum cup", otherwise look for "suction cup". The wood parts you might be able to have someplace like Ponoko build, if they're flat and laserable, but might be expensive. You may be able to find a local woodworker, or even a machine shop that's willing to work in wood...that's probably cheaper.

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seeedstudio.com
 
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Re: Hiring help to assemble kits

Post by seeedstudio.com »

Very interesting topic! ^^

We had started propoganda PCB service for a while, but the documentation and support is always the weak chain for a real "Propaganda". If people with origin ideas are designing the kits and make them open source, we would like to help facilitate it.
It wouldn't be too much hassle for us since it is just a add up of our routine work, and the abundant supplies here in China could help quite a bit.

Maybe we could form something like ponoko.com, but for electronics? :)

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