Operations Manager for Fapco, Scott Sloniker, explained that Fapco has made small parts kitting and packaging its bread and butter since the company was founded.

“This is the fast turn business we started with. With automated parts sorting and kitting assembly machines in-house, such as our Kit-Veyors, small parts kitting and packaging that can overwhelm an in-house packaging department are standard procedure here at Fapco.”

THREE SECTIONS TO SMALL PARTS KITTING AND PACKAGING

Sloniker broke down the small parts kitting and packaging business into three segments. “The first is low volume kits – less than 50,000 units per year. Many times these jobs are hand packed in-house at the OEM parts supplier. At the other end of the spectrum are the high volume kits of over one million pieces a year, where it makes sense to invest in the automated equipment to package as the product comes off the production assembly line. The mid-tier segment with runs of 50,000 to one million kits per year is a perfect match for us.”

These markets in the middle, niche markets, are where Fapco shines. These markets usually include replacement part kits, short runs of specialty products produced in the states, and flow-through consolidation of parts from multiple suppliers that are too cumbersome for the manufacturing company to handle.

“This business is what our automated Kit-Veyor machines drive. We take bolts, washers, and nuts, items that will not nest together in the equipment, and package them into ready- to-assemble kits. Those are the types of hardware kits you see in anything from ready-to-assemble furniture to carburetor rebuild kits to retail parts packages. We can package the kit into bags, blister packs, a cold seal, clamshells, skin packs, chipboard or corrugated packaging – whatever the customer needs.”

“One of our greatest strengths in kit packaging is our partnership with fastener manufacturers. The combination of Fapco’s experience and equipment designed to efficiently package at competitive pricing for fastener manufacturers provides a lower total cost for them than kitting in-house,” stated Business Analyst, Mark Tumbleson of Fapco.

PARTNER WITH FAPCO FOR YOUR PARTS PURCHASING, CONSOLIDATING, INTEGRATED PACKAGING AND FULFILLMENT NEEDS

When it comes to volumes of kits under one million per year, Fapco can process these volume packaging system jobs without an OEM dealing directly with all the outside suppliers. Packaging of wide range small parts like overhaul or replacement kits where multiple outside suppliers of gaskets, seals and fasteners all ship to the OEM for sorting, consolidation, kitting, packaging and fulfillment, can be completely taken over by Fapco’s packaging system.

“We’re finding many customers don’t want to manage five to ten items, all coming in from different sources, with a small parts packaging operation in-house. Instead, they would prefer us to purchase, consolidate, kit, package, warehouse and fulfill orders for each kit. Instead of dealing with millions of parts they can just purchase the complete kitting system needed from Fapco,” said Sloniker.

More Than Small Parts Packaging and Kitting

Fapco has expanded its capabilities towards also purchasing and owning the materials, managing parts and inventory management and selling finished packaged goods to the distribution chain for OEMs. The benefit of partnering with Fapco is the customer no longer has to manage hundreds of thousands of individual component part numbers, but rather just a few thousand pre-packaged kits fulfilled when needed in the distribution chain. Fapco becomes the focal point for various OEM small parts packaging and distribution companies, thus reducing overhead, lowering labor, accounting and stocking cost.

MANUFACTURING COMPANIES BENEFIT FROM FAPCO’S PARTNERSHIPS WITH FASTENER COMPANIES

Fasteners are usually the key element inside any small parts package. Fapco’s close relationships with its fastener company partners increase the efficiency of small parts packaging services.

“Instead of us handing all the fastener inventory in-house, the fastener company manages the inventory management, then we order and pack it for our customer as needed. On the small parts kitting side, we manage the inventory based on the end customer needs,” said Sloniker. He explained this could include the OEM designating where to buy the fasteners and how many to have on hand. He said in this economy many manufacturers are going to smaller and smaller lot sizes. “They leverage having just enough inventory available with fastener companies and Fapco.”

THE GROWING TREND FOR SMALL PARTS KITTING, PACKAGING AND FULFILLMENT

Purchase and supplier agreements with Fapco for a small parts packaging kitting system are true partnerships with risk assumed by both parties. These include agreements for minimum buy quantities, order quantities, the numbers of kits per year and the quantities of materials to produce the kits. Labor and material costs are also a factor. Questions like, “How many times a year is Fapco going to that bin to pick and package? Does one component go into 15 other components and is there enough to handle both components? If one kit gets hotter than the others, how will the allocation change?” These are all questions that Fapco and its partner customers are used to working out to make each kitting assembly program efficient and profitable.

“Today we are seeing a trend in companies that would rather pay an outside supplier, even if its more expensive in the short run, so they don’t have the administrative overhead built into their costs. Labor, inventory management, overhead and transportation costs are all included when they do the numbers. They want to just call Fapco and say ‘we need 250 kits and we all do what we do best,” he said.

Sloniker concluded that this packaging system trend continues to build. “For the past five years Fapco has done business with many companies. Some that are terrified of packaging components correctly and consistently in-house, and to those companies that are not afraid of packaging in-house but can’t handle the financial burden of the inventory, labor and equipment that it takes to package products correctly on what they consider to be a large scale. We have the packaging machinery and solutions for both.”

GET TOP-TIER SMALL PARTS PACKAGING AND KITTING SERVICE WITH FAPCO

When you work with Fapco, you’ll be able to see a clear improvement in your business’s small parts kitting and packaging operations. Our packaging and kitting for small parts can help maintain efficiency while providing you with top-quality products. You don’t need to remain concerned about inadequate service and products when you work with Fapco.

In addition to small parts kitting and packaging, we offer many other contract packaging services for a wide range of industries and products. We can provide packaging solutions using kits, bags, blisters, clamshells, custom folding cartons, and other types of reliable packaging systems.

Get Started with Small Parts Packaging and Kitting Today

To start with the design and development of a custom small parts kitting and packaging, or one of our other wide range packaging solutions, such as bag packaging, contact Fapco today.

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Exchanging Data Safely and Securely

“The exchange of data has become second nature to us,” said Director of IT for Fapco, Dennis Cooper. “We’ve been doing EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) with major automakers, for example, since 2000.” Many companies who don’t do business with large clients such as the Big Three Automakers can’t match Fapco’s capabilities in EDI. You can’t do business with ‘big guns’ like these without having EDI capabilities. And for clients who don’t have EDI capabilities, we have other ways of integrating with their systems.”

“We can do anything the client needs us to do when it comes to IT,” Cooper continued. “We can do what the large companies want or what the smaller companies need. That’s the big difference between Fapco and other strategic parts integration firms. Many are very rigid and can only do data exchange one way. Not here at Fapco. We specialize in customizing solutions for our customers.”

Connectivity and security are a non-issue when doing business with Fapco. With redundant high-speed Internet access, Fapco has stable and ample bandwidth for doing day-to-day business with multiple clients. Fapco was one of the first 200 companies in North America to have access to the ANX (Automotive Network Exchange) network. This specialized Extra-Net provides secure data exchange in the auto and medical industry — a private worldwide Internet highway providing access only to its members.

Customizable IT Solutions

After meeting directly with a new customer’s IT department, Fapco’s IT team sets up a test environment to start the data exchange process. “Both IT departments sit down and determine how we are going to work together and who the key players are,” Cooper said. “The exchange of data between two companies is always on a unique, case-by-case basis. We can adjust to meet the needs of any customer.”

“Common data we exchange is planning and forecasts, scheduling with releases, ship schedules, inventory, advance ship notices, and invoicing.  There are many more types of data we can exchange depending on the customer’s needs and plans for the future that will allow us to even better serve our clients. We are currently working on a web portal due for completion next year that will give clients the ability to place an order and track the scheduled order and see how it was delivered online. We’re also working on updates to the QAD system that will go online early next year. All of these upgrades will make doing business with our customers easier, regardless of whether they are a big or small company.”

Whether its part kitting, cold seal or carton packaging, Fapco Inc. will work to help your business grow. Get started with Fapco Inc. today!

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Take a close consideration at automated packaging technology before considering any in-house packaging possibility.

The Auto Bagger with Printer

This machine is designed to fill, seal, label for identification, and is adjustable from small to larger bags.  It can handle a variety of sized parts, such as for custom small hardware parts. Fapco bagger sealers will increase production, simplify the bagging operation and decrease packaging costs.  Fapco has over 20 baggers of different levels of complexity.  Average cost around $35,000, total Fapco investment, over $800,000.

Cold Seal Packaging

If you are hand picking and packing items into boxes, cartons, poly bags, bubble or padded mailers, then Fapco’s automated cold seal machinery could be a very cost effective and labor saving option for you. Cold Seal packaging works to create a secure, movement free package ready to ship.  Fapco has two state-of-the-art cold seal machines—Average cost, $85,000, total Fapco investment, almost $200,000. 

Skin Packaging

Skin Packaging is the process of adhering a flexible plastic material to a printed-paper board for the purpose of packaging a product for display, shipping or protection. Product instructions, pictures, warnings, warranties, as well as prices and sizes can be printed on the back and front.  Fapco has two machines worth a total of $200,000.

Blister Packaging

Blister packs have been a popular choice in packaging for many years, providing a cost-effective means of effectively displaying a product line.  A blister package is made up of two separate elements: a transparent plastic cavity shaped to the product and its blister board backing. These two elements are then joined together with a heat-sealing process.  Fapco’s investment in blister packaging technology is well over $50,000.

Shrink Wrapping

One of Fapco’s most affordable solutions, heat shrinking is one way of sealing shrink film to a package.  After the shrink-wrap is cut and drawn across the package, a conveyor belt sends it through a tunnel, heating and sealing the shrink film.  It is one of the easiest packages to open.  Fapco has 5 shrink wrap lines with over $100,000 invested.

“Manufacturers make products.  That’s what they know.  They’re not necessarily good packagers or retail providers after the packing is complete.  Pulling this business in-house can be a volatile and expensive prospect.  If one of your staff is pushing in-house operations, call Fapco for a plant tour and we will provide you true, cost effective solutions,” concludes Fapco President, Larry Gardiner.

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“One of the biggest enhancements we are looking at is the ability to actually allocate material and schedule its production,” explains Sloniker. “There is a new ‘Scheduling Work Bench’ where we can see everything that has to do with a particular part on the screen.”

We will be able to simultaneously view customer forecasting, demand, current inventory, and future demand.

“This will allow us to make an educated decision based on real time supply and demand information that was not available before without a cumbersome research process,” he states. “This tracking is provided per SKU so each part for each supplier can be evaluated to ensure on time delivery to our OEM customer.”

The new QAD upgrades will also provide Fapco with more flexibility to track and manage inventory processing throughout the entire system.

“We had great inventory software, but this new upgrade provides us with more advanced control with more options and flexibility to serve the many types of customers our OEMs serve,” states Fapco Material Manager JoAnn Pressey.

OEM dealers, distribution centers, and even retail outlets may all have different shipping and blister packaging needs. This part of the QAD upgrade allows the tracking and customization of each, providing an easily modified, pre-programmed plan.

This system – combined with EDI that is already in place – will allow Fapco to accept and process orders in real time rather than manually entering data, thus eliminating keystrokes and the chance of human error.

“We began looking at the upgrade two years ago,” says Sloniker. “We have had it up for several months and are continuing testing and migration of various elements. In the near future we will, with a few clicks, be able to track production and quality performance of all the Tier One suppliers to help improve service standards to our OEM customers,” he concludes.

Learn more about part kitting and small parts packaging solutions from Fapco.

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Fapco team experts ramp-up to speed quickly, assimilating information and communicating with customers in any format they demand. Dashboard technology is one of the most intuitive and interactive ways to display data so that all managers can make intelligent, data-driven, real time decisions.

General Manager for Fapco, Scott Sloniker, explains the importance of the new “dashboard software” and its importance to customers’ service.

“These new programs are coming to our customers with these highly customizable dashboards so each person or user can see what they want to see or define what we want them to see. Making the upgrade to QAD EB2 will be a huge jump from where we are today.”

Sloniker explains that Fapco systems will also evolve from a black and green screen with numerical information into a graphical interface.

“Each morning when our people sign in to their computers the very first thing they will see is a dashboard customized to each individual’s highest priority information,” says Sloniker. “How many sales orders are in the system from yesterday? What is the current backlog? How many late P.O.s are there? Endless information at our fingertips.”

On the customer side, the Fapco team is driven by dashboards such as delivery, quality, and “performing vendor” stats to gauge real time performance. These critical customer service stats can make or break your business.

“We take these portals and dashboards very seriously. I watch these very closely,” states Customer Service Manager for Fapco, Jim Page. “Every day I search portals for any past due deliveries and then go in and check to see if they are legitimate and why.”

Page believes the client’s online portal or dashboards are valuable in tracking down real time problems in the field that aid Fapco’s continuous improvement processes.

Overseeing many of Fapco’s largest customers, Page explains that between Fapco’s in-house MRP systems and client portal dashboards, Fapco is hitting some impressive numbers.

“Our on-time delivery is always in a state of improvement. We are hitting better numbers than we ever have before with the combination of technologies we employ. With one of our major automakers we are in the mid-ninety percentile. With one of our major construction equipment manufacturers we are hitting 90+ percent on time,” he proudly concludes.

Whether it’s plastic clamshell packaging, or it is small parts packaging or cold seal packaging, Fapco Inc. will work to help your business grow. Get Started with Fapco Inc. today!

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