Completely Knocked Down lots are packaged and shipped in engineered pack solutions. The bill of material shipped includes components broken down into their primary form. CKD lot sets together with any parts procured locally in the destination country, allow overseas assemblers to produce in a low volume, low cost scenario. The number of product derivatives typically is low and the lot set size is constant (eg. 12, 24, 96).

Example:

Vehicles produced by a car manufacturer are packed and shipped broken down into high density CKD lot sets for assembly overseas in the destination country.

Semi Knocked Down lot sets are managed in a similar way to CKD sets. However, in an SKD environment more built-up component assemblies are shipped and typically include units with a higher level of completion.  An SKD assembler will have a lower cost investment facility and less sophistication. SKD is often used on low volume runs or in the start-up phase of an overseas assembly facility.

Example:

Vehicles produced by a car manufacturer are packed and shipped broken down into only a few fully constructed parts - sometimes including painted bodies - for re-assembly overseas in the destination country.
 

Part-by-Part component shipments, in contrast to CKD / SKD, require a more sophisticated overseas assembler with full control of their bill of material and high local parts sourcing. Shipment lines (part numbers and quantities) are not constant and generally not in engineered pack solutions.