Bundles are a collection of items that are purchased using a single manufactuerer number. Defining individual items within the bundle is important, as these items may be used at different stages of a build.

Most consumer goods are sold as a bundle. Consider a new laptop computer. It is sold in a box, which contains:

• The computer,
• A charge cable,
• Startup instructions, or similar leaflet,
• Foam or cardboard packaging insert,
• A plasic bag for the computer.

A bundle lets us assign a unique item number to each object in the delivered box:

In a detail-assembly drawing or a work-instruction, we can point to the individual objects that come in the bundle, and specify where the items should be placed in inventory. Certain items may be discarded, so you could choose to simply have a note stating to throw it away, rather than creating a unique Item Number, and logging it as inventory. This step seems trivial, but having a debundling procedure gives you more flexibility when working with the individual parts.

• The individual items can be tracked in inventory separately, minimizing lost parts,
• Individual items can be sent for Quality Control checks,
• The parts can be consumed in different subassembly work-instructions,
• Items can easily be called for in Altered Item drawings, such as cutting the end off a charge cable,
• Onboarding, training, and outsourcing are simpler, since all the work-instructions are recorded.

Keyed Items in a Bundle

This bundling method works well for most consumer items, but does not work well when there is a dependency between items. Some examples include:

• A door lock, and it's related key,
• A remote control car, and it's paired remote,
• A SSH public-key, and private-key.

In these situations, you do not want to place the related items in separate inventory bins since nothing ensures that they will remain tied to the same serial-number of the Finished Good that you sell. To inventory these paired-items, you can either keep them in the original bundle, or you can create a new assembly with the keyed-items and some packaging (plastic bag, or cable-tie). When designing your product, you want both of the keyed-items to be consumed at the same work station at the same time. This moves both of the keyed-items from inventory⟶work-in-progress at the same time. When you cannot find a design that co-locates both keyed-items in an assembly, you should still package the outlier with the subassembly. If you are assembling a door with its hinges and lock, you can use a cable tie to hold the key to the door handle. This may not be the final form of the Finished Good that you sell, but this interim subassembly will keep the keyed-items co-located in Inventory and WIP states.