In manufacturing, medical-device assembly, or service operations, you plan and stage the kits of parts and instructions that production needs to build something — turning a BOM into a tray, tote, or cart ready for assembly.
Most weeks tend to involve kit planning, parts pulling coordination, schedule alignment with production, and the steady cadence of reconciling shortages — building kit lists from BOMs, working with stockroom on availability, prepping kits ahead of production, fielding shortage calls when something didn't make it into the tray. You're often the operational glue between materials and assembly. Kits delivered on time and complete is the operating measure.
The harder part is often the small-part vigilance — kits commonly include dozens of parts, and one missing fastener can stop an assembly run. Variance across employers is wide: at medical-device or aerospace manufacturers the discipline is tight with serial tracking; at consumer-goods or industrial assembly it's lighter-weight.
Folks who do well here are methodical, comfortable on a production floor, and patient with parts-level detail. APICS CPIM and ERP fluency anchor advancement. The trade-off is the upstream-bottleneck position — when materials don't arrive on time, the kit planner is often who production blames first.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Admin & Office roles →In manufacturing, medical-device assembly, or service operations, you plan and stage the kits of parts and instructions that production needs to build something — turning a BOM into a tray, tote, or cart ready for assembly.
Median pay for a Kit Planner is about $58K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $39K to $85K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Speaking, Reading Comprehension, Time Management, Active Listening, and Critical Thinking.
Most people in this role hold a high school diploma.
Employment in this field is projected to decline about 1.8% through 2034, with roughly 385,000 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Senior Kit Planner, Project Manager, and Human Resources Project Manager (HR Project Manager).
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