1. The document discusses some of the problems that can arise from the use of kits in repair operations, as illustrated through examples from Mr. D's experience at Sundstrand. Kits intended to reduce paperwork instead led to excess parts being stockpiled and costs being misallocated. 2. Issues included kits containing parts that weren't always needed, expensive parts being wasted, kits being cannibalized for single parts and leaving unusable remainders, and defects in entire batches of parts that were difficult to track when those parts were included in kits. 3. However, kits can also provide benefits to customers by bundling together all necessary parts for repairs, as shown through Mr. D's successful experience repairing

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One of Mr. D’s favorite moviesis TheGodsMustBe Crazy. The movie startswiththe pilotof a small
airplane flyingoverthe Kalahari dessert. The pilotfinishesdrinkingabottle of Coca-colaandhe throws
the emptybottle outof the flyingplane. The bottle tumblestoearthat the footof a primitive bushman.
The bushmanbelievesthe bottle isa wonderfulgiftfromthe Godsandhe takesitback to hisvillage.
Unfortunately,the bottle hasaverynegative impactonthe social fabricof the village. The bushman
concludesthatthe bottle isnota goodthingbut ratheran evil thing. The restof the movie detailshis
exploitsashe takestobottle tothe endof the earth so he may give itback to the Gods.
Mr. D believesthatkitsare verymuchlike the coca-colabottle inthat movie. At firsttheyseemlike a
goodidea– the simple solutiontoaproblem. But eventually,theycanhave averynegative impact.
Here are some problemsMr.D hasexperience withkits.
Poorly developedkitbillsofmaterial:
Duringmost of the 1980s, the Sundstrandrepair operationhadnocomputerizedsystem. Inorderto get
a part from stock a repairmechanichadto hand write the part number& quantity he neededontoa
Parts Data Requisition (PDR),andthentake thatformto the stockroom. The practical resultof thiswas
the mechanicspentsome amountof time writingdown the Partnumber& Quantityforparts that
literallycostjustpennies. Someone inthe repairmanagementpyramidbelievedthatthe turntimesfor
repairingunitscouldbe substantiallyreducedif the mechanicdidnothave to dothis non-value added
work.
Theirsolutionwastomake up several differentkits,foreachCSDtype,that includedthe partsthat
“always”had to be replacedwhenrepairingaparticularCSD. Unfortunately,the kitbillsof material
were made upsomewhatpoorly,andincludeditemsthatwere notreplace everytimeandthatwere
somewhatexpensive. Thiscausedsome problems.
To wit:one day Mr. D was visitingthe repairstockroomwhenamechaniccame upto himina panic. It
happenedthata $200 inputbearingwasincludedaspartof one of these kits. However,this input
bearingwasreplacedonlyabout50% of the time. The mechanicshowedMr.D a five gallon bucketfull
of brandnewbearingsthathad come withthe kits,butthat were not used.The bearingcouldnotbe
returnedtothe stockroom - because there wasnoissue of the bearingpart number fromthe stockroom
to a particularunit. Rather thanjustthrow the bearingawaythe mechanichad beenstockpilingthem.
Of course,the costof the bearingwasbeingchargedto eachunitrepaired. Essentially,thispractice just
tradedthe cost of the mechanicwritingthe PDRagainstthe cost of “scrapping”a perfectlygood
bearing. Those bearings andotherparts too,were eventuallyreturnedtostockviaa write-on.
The short termsolutionshouldhave beentogobackto engineeringanddoan engineeringchange onall
of the thirty kitBOMs that had originallybeencreated,andremove the “expensive”items.
Unfortunately,the original processof creatingthe BOMs was slow andexpensive.So,ratherthan
modifythe kitdrawings the whole kitprocess wasscrapped. The mechanicswentbacktohandwriting
the PDR.

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Of course,the penultimate solutionforthisproblemwastoputthose cheapparts out by the mechanic
as floorstock,therebyeliminatingthe needtowrite downthe partnumberandpull itfromthe
stockroom. This eventuallywouldtranspire,butthere were many procedural and cultural issues that
had to be overcome todo so.
Whena computersystemwasdevelopedforthe repairoperationsin1989 a virtual KitBOMfeature
(picklist) wasdesignedthatallowedthe repairfolkstobuildandmaintaintheirown“kits”. Whenthat
picklistwas selectedbythe mechanicthe computeraddedall the detailitemsinthe kittothe electronic
PDR.
Kits beingcannibalized.
Thisphenomenonhappenedateveryrepairenter. This situation wouldoccurwhenamechanicneeded
an itemthat itemwasnotin stock,but itwas instock as part of a kit. The netresultwasthe kitwas
takenfromstock and the detail partwas cannibalizedfromit. That resultedinanunusable kit,usually
still showingason-handinthe computersystem.
Quality turn backs.
On occasion,Sundstrandproductionorpurchasingwouldgetadefectivebatchof parts. Whensomeone
realizedthe partswere bada reworkorderwouldbe createdto fix the problem. Anyparts thatwere in
stock inthe sparesstockroomwere transferredbacktothe productionstockroom, andthenall the parts
were issuedoutof production stocktothe reworkorder. The fixedpartswere eventuallyrestockedin
production andthenre-sentbackto spares.
There wasa process,andappropriate costaccountinginventorytransactioncodes,toaccomplishthisso
that the cost of thatsingle itemcouldbe tracked. If that defectivedetailitemwasalsoinakit and that
was instock thenthe kitsalsohad to be “purged”. However,there wasno“un-kitting”transaction
available inthe costaccountingsystem.Therefore the costof fixingthe kitwasusuallylost.
Wrong Itemin Kit.
One wouldthinkthatthisproblemwouldbecome immediatelyobvious. If the wrongitemisa washerin
place of an o-ring,thenthe errorisprobablyobvious. If the wrongitemisanothero-ringthenmaybe
the error isnot obvious. Mr. D once foundanerror intwo gasketkitsthat hadbeenwrongfor more
than tenyears. While witnessingthe repairof aDC9 CSD inAtlantaMr. D noticedthatthe Nomex
gasketfor the governorpostwasmuch largerthan the postitself. While witnessingthe repairof a DC10
CSD inMinneapolisMr.D noticedthatthe Nomex gasketwasmuchsmallerthanthengovernorpost.
Long storyshort, the gasketsforbothunitswere designedatthe same time,andwere reversed when
they were addedtothe repairmanuals. What’s interestingisthatnoone inany of the three
Sundstrand repaircentersevercaughtthiserror.
Mr. D’s carburetor kit a successstory.
In 2002, Mr. D had to rebuildthe carburetoronhis1948 Ford 8N tractor. Mr. D searchedon-lineand
founda vendorthatsuppliedakitof all the parts necessaryforthe repair. The kitwas orderedandthe
carburetorwas repaired. Itwasnice to order just one itemandget all the parts necessary,asMr. D had

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no ideawhatparts were requiredtodoa rebuild. Thisiswhykitswere invented! Of course,the
supplierof the kitpotentially hadall the problemslistedabove.
So,the efficacyof kitsseemstodependonwhotheyare facing. Facingto the customertheylooktobe
a good idea. Facinginternal repairprocessestheydonot.
Well there itis:one more tasty entrée inMr. D’s smorgasbordof ideas. Take whatyou want,andleave
the rest.
Contact Mr. D at MisterD@windstream.net