If you’re in the health care industry, your company model may rely on manufacturing work for a wide range of medical supplies. Two of the most time-consuming aspects of preparing these products are kitting and assembly services. Luckily, third-party industrial companies can make these processes as safe and efficient as possible. Here’s a closer look at the difference between these two tasks and how they’re used for medical, diagnostic, and laboratory applications.

Assembly Services

Product assembly involves the physical joining of multiple parts to create a whole. In a manufacturing plant, multiple workers might pass a product down an assembly line, and each will add a new component to the central piece. This is commonly used for producing sterile medical products, like syringes or antibody rapid tests.

For the latter, the process begins in a dry room, where card lamination is completed with client-provided components. Then the card may be cut into strips. The next station begins to assemble the cassettes, cases that fold and snap into place. Finally, the cassettes are placed in pouches with desiccants to prevent moisture buildup, and the pouches are carefully heat sealed.

In this case, the client doesn’t have to put anything together once the product arrives at their office. An assembly line makes the manufacturing process quick, and since no tasks overlap among workers, there is less of a chance of mix-ups or mistakes.

Kitting Services

With kitting, medical supplies are separated into individual components, then carefully wrapped and sealed on their own. The health care worker can assemble the components themselves when it’s time to use them. This is crucial for time-sensitive or reactive products, such as test strips that change color when a liquid is added.

Kitting is often used for urine analysis, blood collection, and tissue biopsy kits, where each component must be transported to the lab separately before use. Kitting is also helpful for creating sealed surgical kits. When a surgeon is ready to operate, they’ll have their scalpels and other tools individually wrapped in sterile packaging and conveniently organized by type. 

If you’re hoping to streamline your operations with these processes, reach out to Pacific Integrated Manufacturing. Based in Bonita, CA, they’ve focused on health care manufacturing in their 50,000-square-foot plant for over 15 years. To learn more about their kitting and assembly services, visit them online. You can also call (619) 921-3464 to request a free quote for your kitting or assembly project.