Some of the major services a 3PL fulfillment partner must provide are pick/pack and kiting services. This is simply the ability to pull various items from the client’s inventory that have been ordered by an end user and package (or “kit”) them together in a single shipment. While the concept is simple, accomplishing it requires a very organized system and personnel who are committed to quality assurance. 

At worst, a faulty or nonexistent system for kitting results in team members just “figuring it out as they go along.” This is nearly guaranteed to result in mistakes, incorrect packaging procedures leading to damage during shipping, failure to restock items that are depleted from inventory, and other errors that waste money and inconvenience end users.

At best, a streamlined system for kitting enables the client organization to offer a large selection of different products and customized materials to its B2B end users, with the assurance that they can order whatever they need and know that they’ll get their order in time to put it to work serving their customers.

Inventory Management Is Key

A great pick and pack system starts with precise, real-time inventory management. When a B2B order comes in, it’s essential that all the materials being ordered are present in the warehouse, in the right spot on the shelf, and in sufficient quantities. That means that long before that moment, the team has assessed the stock and arranged for items to be reordered or printed in preparation for the next orders.

As the Spectra team processes more orders for your organization over time, we get better and better at predicting order volume based on history and seasonal changes. This streamlined inventory management results in two benefits for your company: First, capital is not tied up in overstocked inventory that won’t be needed for years, if at all. Second, the risk is minimized that understocked inventory will delay orders for your end users. Keeping stock levels just right takes careful gathering and analysis of metrics, but it pays off in a major way for your organization’s relationships with B2B end users.

Quality Checks

At Spectra, we have great confidence in our ability to accomplish pick and pack fulfillment with accuracy and speed. But that’s not because we think that we have a superhuman ability to avoid making mistakes! In fact, it’s because we recognize that even our best fulfillment experts with decades of experience and knowledge have the potential to get something wrong now and then. 

One of the non-negotiable aspects of our fulfillment system is “Power of Two” quality assurance. That means that each kitting project conducted by one of our workers is checked by another worker to make sure everything is correct. It’s possible that someone could overlook an item or get a quantity wrong now and then, but it’s very unlikely that an independent team member would fail to notice the mistake. We’ve found this trackable system to be incredibly dependable, and it has made our B2B fulfillment services very popular with our clients due to their reliability.

Opportunities for Customization

Spectra is proud to offer a rare amount of value for national organizations in pick and pack fulfillment. This value is in the integration between Spectra’s in-house print division and the fulfillment side of the business. While standard B2B fulfillment often allows end users to assemble kits of materials based on their individual needs, Spectra offers a deeper level of customization through its print capabilities. In order to make fully personalized materials available to its end users, a client doesn’t need to find a separate service provider, set up a new account, and work out the details to coordinate that service provider with their B2B fulfillment provider. Instead, everything is handled by the same team at Spectra.

Including personalized printed collateral, promotional products, and other materials in end users’ kits shows attention to detail and also expands the number of marketing products that the client can offer to end users. This expanded catalog of options supports end users in their sales activities and ultimately helps everyone grow their profit margins.

Careful, Expert Packaging

Getting the right items packaged together and shipping them on time sounds like a success, but there’s an additional problem that could still occur to turn that fulfillment project into a failure. If certain items are not packed correctly, they could reach the end user damaged. Of course, not all products and materials require specific packaging, but for those that do, failure to enact and adhere to procedures can sabotage an otherwise successful kitting.

At Spectra, we work with a number of different clients that need to transport products which are flammable, sensitive to temperature extremes, or otherwise more vulnerable to damage than other products. We have processes in place to ensure that these products are protected while stored in our warehouse, but it is equally important to package them in such a way that they stay intact during shipping.

When we partner with a new client for pick and pack fulfillment, we carefully assess their products and determine what the best packaging is to keep them safe during transport. If the client already has stipulations for packaging, we incorporate that into our workflow and guarantee adherence. Other times, we advise the client and come up with recommendations for packaging practices to make sure that when the package is opened by the end user, the items inside are in the same condition as when they left our facility.

Launch a Successful Pick and Pack Fulfillment Partnership

Put an end to kitting mistakes, poor packaging, and inventory problems in your fulfillment flow. When you put the expert team at Spectra in charge of your B2B fulfillment, you can count on high quality fulfillment capable of meeting each of your end users’ requests in a timely manner. Adding customized print collateral to your shipments with the help of Spectra’s integrated print division will also give a powerful personal touch to your interactions with each of your end users.