As Caracal continues to celebrate Women’s History Month, we focus on an important part of our business and reflect on the significant role that women have played in its evolution: the business of kitting.

Kitting is the gathering of a related set of products into a box or “kit.” Usually, the kit includes the raw materials needed to assemble a final product—like an entertainment system or a small piece of furniture—including the components, the tooling, and the instructions for assembly.

However, kitting can be used for other purposes, like in retail where a group of products that are normally purchased together can be bundled to eliminate the need for picking and packing each product separately. Kitting can also be used to create gift packages or promotional material with coupons or advertisements for a company’s other products included in the box with the ordered item(s). Whatever the purpose, it’s important to highlight brand identity (with labeling) and to ensure items are not damaged in transit (e.g., with sufficient bubble wrap or crinkle paper included).

While the origins of kitting are not well documented and no one person or company has been credited with creating the process (that we’re aware of), the concept of kitting can be traced as far back as the 19th century, particularly with the military’s use of “mess kits” during America’s wars.

As early as the 1800s (and perhaps even before), soldiers used mess kits which often contained metal cookware, utensils, canteens and cups for preparing and consuming their rations. Even those rations were prepared as self-contained “kits” consisting of canned meat, bread, coffee, sugar and salt for soldiers to carry in sacks during battle. There are documented uses of these items in the War of 1812, with more standardized versions (as mandated by the federal government in 1951) in use during the Civil War.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, these materials were manufactured in factories with jobs that were traditionally held by men. But as America entered World War I and later World War II in 1917 and 1941, respectively, the role of women in the workplace increased significantly as men were deployed overseas for combat. This was especially true during WWII.

During the Second World War, more than six million women took jobs in factories where gas masks, mess kits, ration kits, ammunition and other war materials were manufactured. This was in addition to the many other roles women took on, including volunteering for the Red Cross, the USO, or serving in the military (in auxiliary branches; women were restricted from combat zones at the time).

Both the kitting of wartime materials and women entering the workplace were essential to America’s success in WWII. However, as the war ended and the demand for those items decreased (and millions of men returned to home to the U.S. seeking jobs), most women were laid off and returned to previous roles as housewives and mothers.

It wasn’t until after the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s that the fight for women to both reenter and gain equality in the workplace really took off.

In the more than half century since, kitting has changed the way we package and market products for uses that go far beyond wartime purposes. Additionally, women have taken on leadership and other roles that would have been unimaginable a century ago.

While there is still work to do in achieving full equity for women in the workplace, their contributions to history, culture and society have been immeasurable, and the progress they’ve made is certainly worth commemorating.

Caracal is proud to celebrate this year’s Women’s History Month and the roles of women in the development of one of our most important services.