Editing Knock-down kit

{{short description|Collection of manufactured parts for assembly}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}

[[File:SLM F169-1 - ANAs Automobilfabrik, last från Amerika 1948.jpg|thumb|[[Plymouth (automobile)|Plymouth]] CKD crate being unloaded in a Swedish harbor]]

A '''knock-down kit''' (also '''knockdown kit''', '''knocked-down kit''', or simply '''knockdown''' or '''KD''') is a collection of parts required to assemble a product. The parts are typically manufactured in one country or region, and then [[export]]ed to another country or region for final assembly. '''CBU''', on the other hand, stands for "Completely Built Up" and signifies import of a finished product.

==Definitions==

A common form of knock-down is a '''complete knock-down''' ('''CKD'''), which is a kit of entirely unassembled parts of a product. It is also a method of supplying parts to a market, particularly in shipping to foreign nations, and serves as a way of counting or pricing.<ref name=Miller>{{cite book |last=Miller | first=Russell R. |title=Doing business in newly privatized markets: global opportunities and challenges |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2000 | page=281 |isbn=978-1-56720-260-1}}</ref> CKD is a common practice in the [[automotive industry|automotive]], [[bus]], heavy [[truck]], and [[rail transport|rail vehicle]] industries, as well as electronics, furniture and other products. Businesses sell knocked-down kits to their foreign affiliates or licensees for various reasons, including the avoidance of import taxes, to receive tax preferences for providing local manufacturing jobs, or even to be considered as a bidder at all (for example, in [[public transport]] projects with "buy national" rules).{{cn|date=May 2025}}

A '''semi-knocked-down kit''' ('''SKD''') or '''incompletely disassembled kit''' (although it has never been assembled) is a kit of the partially assembled parts of a product. Both types of KDs, complete and incomplete, are collectively referred to within the auto industry as '''knocked-down export''' ('''KDX'''), and cars assembled in the country of origin and exported whole to the destination market are known as '''built-up export''' ('''BUX''').{{cn|date=May 2025}}

Technically, the terms "knock-down", "incompletely disassembled kit", and "kits of parts" are all [[misnomer]]s because the knock-downs were never built up in the first place. The parts shipments are often not in the form of kits,<ref name=Miller/> but rather bulk-packed by type of part into [[shipping container]]s. The degree of "knock-down" depends on the desires and technical abilities of the receiving organization or government import regulations.<ref name=Miller/> Developing nations may pursue trade and economic policies that call for [[import substitution]] or local content regulations. Companies with CKD operations help the country substitute the finished products it imports with locally assembled substitutes.

Knock-down kit assembly plants are less expensive to establish and maintain because they do not need modern robotic equipment, and the workforce may be less costly than in the country of origin. The plants may also be effective for low-volume production. The CKD concept allows firms in developing markets to gain expertise in a particular industry. At the same time, the CKD kit exporting company gains new markets that would otherwise be closed.<ref>{{cite web|last=Lind |first=Tommy |url= http://www.tlind.dk/eng-rhistory_louis.htm |title=Partnerships - a solution |work=Tommy Lind's History of Renault 1898-1975 |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref>

==Automotive==
[[File:ANA CKD.jpg|thumb|CKD kit as delivered to [[AB Nyköpings Automobilfabrik]] for assembly, probably a Plymouth]]

In the automotive industry, the most basic form of a vehicle in the KD kit lacks the wheels, [[internal combustion engine]], [[transmission (mechanics)|transmission]], and [[Automotive battery|battery]].{{citation needed|date=August 2009}} They are either supplied as ''parts'' for assembly (a "complete" kit) or obtained from third parties (an "incomplete" kit); all of the interiors are already installed at the originating factory. The term SKD for semi-knocked-down refers to a kit with a complete, welded car body, usually coated or already painted. To gain extra tax preferences, the manufacturer needs to "localize" the car further, i.e., increase the share of parts produced by local manufacturers, such as tires, wheels, seats, headlights, windscreens and glass, batteries, interior plastics, etc., even down to the engine and transmission. At some point, the steel body could be pressed, welded, and painted locally, effectively making KD assembly only a few steps away from full-scale production.

By the time [[Henry Ford]] co-wrote his 1922 memoir, ''My Life and Work'', the Ford Motor Company was already shipping car parts from its Michigan plants for final assembly in the regions of the United States or foreign countries where the cars would be sold.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ford |first1=Henry |last2=Crowther |first2=Samuel | year=1922 |title=My Life and Work |publisher=Garden City Publishing |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_4K82efXzn10C/page/n87 81], 167 |url= https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_4K82efXzn10C  |access-date=2010-06-08 }}</ref>

During [[World War II]], a significant number of US- and Canadian-built vehicles, most notably light and heavy trucks like [[Willys MB]]/[[Ford GPW]]/GPA, GMC-353/[[GMC CCKW 2½-ton 6×6 truck|CCKW]], and vehicles from the [[Canadian Military Pattern truck|CMP family]], were crated and shipped overseas in KD form, in various degrees of completeness, to Allied countries to sustain their war effort. Assembly lines were preferably set up in local automotive factories where appropriate tooling and equipment could be easily found, but, where needed, other types of buildings could be used, especially in on-the-field situations, and on occasion, even open-air rebuilding camps were set up, managed by military personnel. Owing to male mobilization, sometimes a female workforce was employed. CKD military vehicles could be stored for shipment in one-vehicle-per-crate form (or SUP, Single Unit Pack), or as several vehicles (usually two to three) divided in two or more crates. Vehicles shipped to certain countries could be lacking some items, such as cabs, beds, or tires, that were built and provided locally.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=CMP Assembly Overseas |pages=13–22 |magazine=Wheels & Tracks |issue=37 |date=1991}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhf4ynHqVqA |archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/hhf4ynHqVqA| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=148th MVA Ordnance - WWII - Dad in France on Assembly Line}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[Mahindra & Mahindra Limited]] in [[India]] began its business in 1947 with assembling CKD [[Jeep]]s. Mahindra expanded its operations to include domestic manufacture of Jeep vehicles with a high level of local content [[Licence-built|under license]] from [[Kaiser Jeep Corporation]] and later [[American Motors Corporation]] (AMC).

In the 1950s and 1960s, [[Lotus Cars]] sold its [[Lotus Seven]] car in CKD form to avoid the UK [[purchase tax]] that applied to sales of fully assembled vehicles.

By 1959, and with the introduction of the [[Mini]], [[British Motor Corporation]] (BMC) products were still either imported or assembled from CKD kits in several international markets.

In 1961, [[Renault]] began negotiations for a first partnership agreement with AMC to assemble [[Rambler (automobile)|Rambler]] automobiles in [[Europe]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Lind |first=Tommy |url= http://www.tlind.dk/eng-rhistory_louis.htm |title=International agreements... |work=Tommy Lind's History of Renault 1898-1975 |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref> Beginning in 1962, and continuing until 1967, AMC also sold CKD kits of its passenger cars to Renault. They were assembled in Renault's factory in [[Haren, Belgium]], and sold through its dealers in [[Algeria]], [[Austria]], [[Belgium]], [[France]], the [[Netherlands]], and [[Luxembourg]]. The deal allowed AMC to sell its cars in new markets without significant [[foreign direct investment]] (FDI). The arrangement benefited the French automaker because its product range lacked large-sized cars, and it needed to offer an "executive" model for its European markets.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://club.doctissimo.fr/phedor/blog/cimetiere-oubliees-rambler-2264660.html |title=Le cimetière des autos oubliées: Renault Rambler (1962-67) |work=The graveyard of forgotten cars |language=fr |date=4 April 2007 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120815003537/http://blog.doctissimo.fr/phedor/cimetiere-oubliees-rambler-2264660.html |archive-date=15 August 2012 |url-status=dead |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref> The situation changed by 1977. By this time, AMC sought outside support for a new car in the [[subcompact car|sub-compact]] market segment, which led to the first of many agreements with Renault.

Volvo's [[Volvo Halifax Assembly|Halifax Assembly Plant]], which opened in 1963, completed vehicles in CKD form from Sweden for North American consumers. Halifax Assembly closed in December 1998.

In 1967, [[Rootes Group]] UK began exporting CKD [[Rootes Arrow|Hillman Hunters]] to Iran where they were sold as the [[Paykan]] (meaning "arrow" in [[Persian language|Persian]]). Bought by Chrysler in 1967 and then part of the sale to the [[PSA Group]] by the [[Chrysler Corporation]] of its European operations in late 1978, the Rootes business basis in Iran became the primer for the very significant PSA Peugeot Citroën business in Iran involving engine and CKD deliveries, particularly from the 405, introduced in 1990 and facelifted as the Pars in 1999 and 206 introduced in 2001.<ref>{{cite web |title=Peugeot Pars: petite histoire de la 405 iranienne |language=fr |date=5 September 2015 |url= http://boitierrouge.com/2015/09/05/peugeot-pars-petite-histoire-de-la-405-iranienne/ |archive-date=24 March 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190324151511/http://boitierrouge.com/2015/09/05/peugeot-pars-petite-histoire-de-la-405-iranienne/ |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref> In 2004, Peugeot's partner [[Iran Khodro]] produced 281'000 Peugeot vehicles, securing a 36% market share.

In 1967 as well, [[Peugeot]] introduced CKD-based production of a light pick-up vehicle based on the [[Peugeot 403]] in Peugeot's Berazategui factory (in [[Buenos Aires]]) under the name Peugeot 4TB.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Uldane |first1=Mauricio |title=La primera camioneta de SAFRAR |url= https://www.taringa.net/post/autos-motos/18473438/La-primera-camioneta-de-SAFRAR.html |publisher=Taringa! |access-date=28 November 2021 |language=es |date=6 February 2015}}</ref> In 1973, this model was replaced by the [[Peugeot 404|404 pick-up]] and later (1990) by the [[Peugeot 504|504 pick-up]]. The 404 and 504 were massively marketed worldwide through local CKD assembly shops: the 404 was assembled, besides France and Argentina, in [[Australia]], Belgium, Canada (at the SOMA plant shared with Renault), Chile, Ireland, Kenya, Madagascar, Malaysia, [[New Zealand]], Nigeria, Portugal, Perú, Rhodesia, South Africa, and Uruguay;<ref>{{cite book |author=Automobile Club of Italy |title=World cars |page=402 |date=1972 |publisher=Herald Books |isbn=9780910714044 |ref=WC72}}</ref> the 504, mainly in Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, South-Africa, Australia, and China by the [[Guangzhou Peugeot Automobile Company]] which developed a specific crew cab version.

In 1968, the independent German automotive firm, [[Karmann]], began assembly of CKD kits of AMC's newly introduced [[AMC Javelin|Javelin]] for distribution in Europe. American Motors also provided [[right-hand drive]] versions of their automobiles to markets such as Australia, New Zealand, and [[South Africa]]. The components were shipped in containers to Australia from AMC's plants in [[Kenosha, Wisconsin]], or [[Brampton, Ontario]]. Assembly of Rambler and AMC vehicles in Australia was done by [[Australian Motor Industries]] (AMI) in [[Port Melbourne, Victoria]]. Local content requirements were met by using Australian suppliers for the interiors (seats, carpeting, etc.) as well as for lights, heaters, and other components. Various Rambler models were assembled in New Zealand from the early 1960s until 1971 by Campbell Motors in [[Thames, New Zealand#Business|Thames]] (later [[Toyota New Zealand]]), which had also built [[Toyota]], [[Nissan|Datsun (later known as Nissan)]], Hino, Renault, and Peugeot cars.

New Zealand had developed a car assembly industry <ref>{{cite book|last=Webster|first=Mark|year=2002|title=Assembly: New Zealand car production 1921-98 |publisher=Reed Books |location=New Zealand |pages=1–223 |isbn=0-7900-0846-7}}</ref> as a means of [[import substitution]] and providing local employment, despite the small size of the local market. Following economic reforms in the 1980s, including the lowering of import tariffs, and the ability to import Australian-built vehicles duty-free under the [[Closer Economic Relations|CER]] agreement, many car companies ended assembly in New Zealand. They switched to importing completely built-up vehicles from [[Japan]], Australia, or Europe. More significantly, the easing of import restrictions led to many [[grey import vehicles|used imports]], because they were less expensive than locally assembled used cars, and outsold the 'NZ New' vehicles. The last companies to construct CKD kits in New Zealand were Toyota, Nissan, [[Mitsubishi Motors|Mitsubishi]], and [[Honda]], which closed their plants in 1998 when the government announced plans to abolish import tariffs on cars.

Other examples include [[Ukraine]], which has almost prohibitive import taxes on finished cars. [[ZAZ|AutoZAZ]] assembles CKD kits of some [[Lada]], [[Opel]], [[Mercedes-Benz]], and [[GM Daewoo|Daewoo]] cars.<ref>[http://www.aval.ua/eng/press/partners/?id=35008 "ZAZ increased car output by 7% in Q1 2006" Bank AVAL], retrieved on: 3 September 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711205613/http://www.aval.ua/eng/press/partners/?id=35008 |date=11 July 2007 }}</ref> It went as far as adopting a version of [[Daewoo Lanos]] for full-scale production and equipping it with a domestic engine. The German [[automotive industry|automotive]] giant [[Volkswagen Group]] also produces SKDs in Ukraine at its [[Solomonovo]] plant, producing cars under its [[Škoda Auto|Škoda]] and [[Volkswagen|Volkswagen Passenger Cars]] [[marque]]s.

In [[Russia]], KD assembling facilities are owned by [[Avtotor]],{{citation needed|date=August 2009}} which produced [[Hummer H2]], [[BMW 3 Series]], and [[BMW 5 Series]] in [[Kaliningrad]], and [[Renault Logan]] in [[Moscow]] using facilities that once belonged to [[AZLK]]. In [[Kaluga]], Volkswagen Group had a plant that was expected to have an annual output of 150,000 units.<ref>{{cite press release|title=The Volkswagen Plant in Kaluga |website=volkswagen-media-services.com |date=28 February 2009 |url= https://www.volkswagen-media-services.com/medias_publish/ms/content/en/pressemitteilungen/2009/02/28/the_volkswagen_plant.standard.gid-oeffentlichkeit.html |access-date=2009-08-22 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

[[Daimler AG]] has a CKD assembly plant in [[South Carolina]] that re-assembles [[Mercedes-Benz Sprinter]] vans for sale in the United States and Canada at Mercedes-Benz and [[Freightliner Trucks|Freightliner]] dealers, along with [[Dodge]] dealers before [[Fiat Group]]'s takeover of [[Chrysler Group LLC]]&mdash;essentially to circumvent the 25% tariff on imported light trucks known as the "[[Chicken Tax]]". The Sprinter was eventually replaced in the Dodge/[[Ram Trucks|Ram]] lineup with the similar Ram ProMaster, a rebadged [[Fiat Ducato]]. Unlike the CKD Dodge Sprinter, the ProMaster is fully imported to the U.S. from a Chrysler plant in [[Mexico]] under of the [[North American Free Trade Agreement]] (NAFTA).

In 2009, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited announced that it would export pickup trucks powered by [[diesel engine]]s from India to the United States in knockdown kit (CKD) form, again to circumvent the [[chicken tax]].<ref name="mtrend">{{cite magazine|title=Mahindra Planning Kit Assembly of Diesel Pickups To Avoid Chicken Tax |magazine=Motor Trend |first=Benson |last=Kong |date=June 2009 |url= http://www.trucktrend.com/features/news/2009/163_news090601_mahindra_planning_kit_assembly_of_diesel_pickups_to_avoid_chicken_tax/index.html |access-date=23 November 2012 }}</ref> Mahindra planned to export CKDs to the United States as complete vehicles that will be assembled in the United States from kits of parts shipped in crates.<ref name="mtrend"/> However, Mahindra's United States CKD and export plans never materialized and were subject to several lawsuits.

In 2013, [[Tesla, Inc.|Tesla]] started operating an assembly plant in [[Tilburg]], the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.tesla.com/blog/tesla-motors-opens-assembly-plant-tilburg-netherlands |title=Tesla Motors Opens Assembly Plant in Tilburg, Netherlands |website=tesla.com |date=27 August 2013 |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref> It is used for the assembly of their [[Tesla Model S|Model S]] sedan and [[Tesla Model X|Model X]] SUV for the [[European Union]], but not all of Europe since only cars imported to the EU benefit from circumventing the 10% import duty<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.carfax.eu/article/customs-clearance-and-import-tax-usa.html|title=Customs clearance & import tax US cars |date=2017 |website=carfax.eu |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170615150634/https://www.carfax.eu/article/customs-clearance-and-import-tax-usa.html |archive-date=15 June 2017 |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref> (e.g. cars to Norway are shipped directly from the United States). For the most part, the car is still manufactured in the [[Tesla Factory]] in [[Fremont, California]]. During the final assembly in the Netherlands, various parts are added to the car, most notably the rear subframe with the drive train as well as the battery pack.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://gopressmobility.be/2017/02/07/tesla-assembly-pant-tilburg-full-capacity/ |title=Tesla assembly plant in Tilburg at full capacity |date=2017-02-07 |website=GoPress Mobility |access-date=2017-09-08}}{{Dead link|date=September 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

==Buses==

[[Motor Coach Industries]] opened its [[Pembina, North Dakota]], assembly plant in 1963, as part of an expansion into the US market. Unfinished KD (knocked down) coach bodies are shipped from [[Winnipeg, Manitoba]], by flatbed trailer and completed, outfitted, and delivered at Pembina. This practice simplifies [[US Customs]] and meets the "[[Buy America Act]]" provisions (49 USC 5323(j) and 49 CFR Part 661) for public agencies purchasing new equipment with federal funds.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Plachno |first1=Larry |title=MCI Celebrates 80 Years of Buss Production |magazine=National Bus Trader |date=June 2013 |url= http://www.busmag.com/mci-celebrates-80-years-bus-production |access-date=28 November 2021}}</ref>

[[North American Bus Industries]] opened operations in [[Anniston, Alabama]], in 1993, with incomplete buses shipped from [[Budapest]], [[Hungary]], to Anniston for final assembly. NABI expanded production operations in Anniston to allow full production with its first fully domestically produced bus unit in 2008.

==Rail==

The practice of selling "knocked down" railcars, called by that name, pre-dates the 20th century, as evidenced by an advertisement by [[JG Brill Company]] in the ''Street Railway Journal'' from 1898.<ref>{{cite book|last=Brill |first=Debra |year=2001 |title=History of the J.G. Brill Company |publisher=Indiana University Press |pages=56–57 |isbn=9780253339492}}</ref>

Many rail equipment builders have used kits or incomplete vehicles, often to meet local assembly and production requirements or quotas, or to satisfy tariffs. Some examples include:
*Between 1938 and 1951, the [[St Louis Car Company]] shipped [[PCC streetcar]] body shells and trucks north for assembly by [[Canadian Car & Foundry]]. The [[Toronto Transit Commission]] (TTC) [[Presidents' Conference Committee (Toronto streetcar)|PCC fleet]] was purchased and delivered in this method.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.streetcar.org/streetcars/1074 |title=Historic Streetcars: Car 1074 |work=Market Street Railway, San Francisco |accessdate=28 November 2021}}</ref>
*[[Bombardier Transportation|Bombardier]] ships incomplete cars from its plant at [[La Pocatière]] Quebec, to [[Plattsburgh, New York]], and (until 2002) [[Barre (city), Vermont|Barre, Vermont]], facilities for final assembly. These are to meet [[Buy America Act]] provisions for US public transit agencies and tariff rules. Since 2009 the Plattsburgh assembly plant has had full stainless steel welding and fabrication capability, allowing for cars to be fully assembled and completed on-site.
*[[Kawasaki Heavy Industries Rolling Stock Company|Kawasaki Heavy Industries]] (KHI) and [[CRRC Qingdao Sifang|CSR Qingdao Sifang]] has a joint venture assembly plant in [[Qingdao, China]], that carried out final assembly of first 10 sets of [[China Railways CRH2]] high-speed trains, itself derived from [[E2 Series Shinkansen]], using parts shipped from [[Kobe, Japan]]. Later the plant was tasked with the local manufacturing of further CRH2 train orders, through technology transfer from Japan.
*[[Alstom]]'s [[Hornell, New York]], assembly plant produces final completed cars using stainless body assemblies shipped from the Lapa plant in [[São Paulo]], Brazil. [[Morrison-Knudsen]] used the same production method when it built new passenger cars at the Hornell shops in the 1990s.
*From their first US order from the [[South Shore Line]] in 1982 until the opening of a full-body manufacturing and assembly line in [[Rochelle, Illinois]], thirty years later,<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.n-sharyo.co.jp/topics_e/tp130430.htm |title=Expansion of Rochelle Production Facility |work=Nippon Sharyo USA |date=30 April 2013 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20171014103621/http://www.n-sharyo.co.jp/topics_e/tp130430.htm |archivedate=14 October 2017 |accessdate=28 November 2021}}</ref> [[Nippon Sharyo]] sent commuter train bodies from Japan to US finishers, including an American unit of [[Sumitomo]].
*[[Hyundai Rotem]] opened an assembly facility in [[South Philadelphia]], located in an industrial park off [[Columbus Boulevard]]. Car shells are assembled, outfitted, and completed for delivery at this site, which is served by [[Conrail Shared Assets|Conrail]] on the [[Philadelphia Belt Line Railroad|Philadelphia Belt Line]], allowing delivery of new cars by rail. The [[Silverliner V]] cars for Denver's [[Regional Transportation District|RTD commuter rail]] and Philadelphia's [[SEPTA Regional Rail]] were purchased and delivered in this method.
*The [[London Underground]] [[London Underground 1995 Stock|1995]] and [[London Underground 1996 Stock|1996 Stock]] fleets have aluminium bodies built by [[Alstom]] in [[Barcelona]] with assembly completed at the [[Metro-Cammell]] works in [[Washwood Heath]], [[Birmingham]].
*[[British Rail Class 385]] fleets have aluminum bodies built by [[Hitachi]] in Kasado, Japan, with assembly completed at the [[Newton Aycliffe]] works in [[Country Durham]].
*[[Taiwan Rolling Stock Company]]'s assembly plant in Hsinchu County, Taiwan has assembled several rolling stock models using knock-down kits from [[Hitachi Rail Italy]] ([[New Taipei Metro Circular Line EMU|EMU101]] trains for Taipei Metro [[Circular line (New Taipei Metro)|Circular Line]]), [[Kawasaki Heavy Industries]] (Taipei Metro [[Taipei Metro C371|C371]], [[Taipei Metro C381|C381]] and [[Taoyuan Metro 1000 series]]) and Nippon Sharyo ([[Taiwan Railways Administration|TRA]] [[EMU700 series|EMU700]] and [[EMU800 series]])

==Aircraft==
Unserviceable military [[aircraft]] are also sold as "knock-downs" after they have ended their [[service life]], packaging them with serviceable aircraft. This allows them to be used for [[Cannibalization (parts)|cannibalization]] of [[spare part]]s.

The European aircraft manufacturer [[Airbus]] uses knock-down kits to assemble [[Airbus A320 family|A320 family]] aircraft outside Europe. The Airbus A320 final assembly line in [[Tianjin]], China, assembles fuselage, wing, and tail sections made in Europe with [[avionics]] and [[jet engine|engines]] made in the EU or the [[United States]] and locally sourced components for interiors. Airbus opened a similar A320 final assembly line in the United States in September 2015, located in [[Mobile, Alabama]]; again using European-made fuselages, wings, and tail sections. However, the Mobile final assembly line will use more locally sourced components than the Tianjin line; engines, interior components, and avionics will be sourced mainly from American suppliers.{{Citation needed|date=November 2015}} Both the Airbus Tianjin and Mobile plants receive their fuselages, wings, and tail sections from Europe via [[Ship transport|ocean freight]] using specially designed [[ship]]s, as the plants are located in [[port]] cities.

==Housing==
{{main|Kit houses in North America}}

[[File:Knock down kits for houses Popular Mechanics 1908.png|thumb|upright|Advertisement for knocked-down kits for houses, in ''Popular Mechanics'', May 1908]]
From 1908 to 1940, the [[Sears|Sears, Roebuck & Co.]] mail-order catalog offered over 400 styles of homes.<ref name="Dahl">{{cite web |url= https://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/a20859/sears-sold-70000-homes-from-their-catalog-are-you-living-in-one/ |title=Sears Sold 70,000 Homes From Their Catalog. Are You Living in One? |first=Timothy |last=Dahl |date=16 May 2016 |work=Popular Mechanics |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref> Buyers were provided with all of the materials and the instructions needed to build a house. Everything that arrived by train or in the mail was designed to fit together, therefore buyers could build the houses themselves or hire contractors.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Abid |first1=Ayesha |title=Sears Is Fading, But Memories Of Its Mail-Order Homes Endure |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/10/20/657770791/sears-is-fading-but-memories-of-its-mail-order-homes-endure |work=NPR |date=20 October 2018 |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref> Sears sourced building materials at a high volume, thus keeping prices low and competitive with the local builders.<ref name="Dahl"/>

==Furniture==
{{main|Ready-to-assemble furniture}}
Knock-down furniture dates back to at least the mid-19th century, with the 1859 [[No. 14 chair|Thonet No. 14 chair bentwood chair]] being easily disassembled for transportation.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.europeana.eu/en/blog/the-chair-men-gebruder-thonet-and-the-number-14-chair |last=Murphy |first=Adrian |date=5 November 2019 |title=The Chair Men: Gebrüder Thonet and the Number 14 Chair |work=Europeana |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref> In the late 1940s, Australian designer [[Frederick Charles Ward]] founded a mail-order business for knock-down furniture in response to a lack of affordable furniture.<ref>{{cite web|last=Carter |first=Nanette |url= http://www.historiadeldisseny.org/congres/pdf/7%20Carter,%20Nanette%20%20BLUEPRINT%20TO%20PATTERNCRAFT%20DIY%20FURNITURE%20PATTERNS%20AND%20PACKS%20IN%20POST-WAR%20AUSTRALIA.pdf |title=Blueprint to Patterncraft: DIY Furniture Patterns and Packs in Postwar Australia |work=Design History Foundation |date=2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210425160405/http://www.historiadeldisseny.org/congres/pdf/7%20Carter%2C%20Nanette%20%20BLUEPRINT%20TO%20PATTERNCRAFT%20DIY%20FURNITURE%20PATTERNS%20AND%20PACKS%20IN%20POST-WAR%20AUSTRALIA.pdf |archive-date=25 April 2021 |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref>

Swedish furniture company [[IKEA]] began selling flat-pack furniture in 1956.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.dezeen.com/2016/03/14/ikea-billy-bookcase-designer-gillis-lundgren-dies-aged-86/ |title=Ikea's Billy bookcase designer Gillis Lundgren dies aged 86 |first=Alice |last=Morby |date=14 March 2016 |website=dezeen.com |access-date=30 January 2024}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Rules of origin]]

{{clear}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

[[Category:Automotive technologies]]
[[Category:Manufacturing]]
[[Category:International trade]]

[[pl:Systemy montażu samochodów#CKD]]