Products / Furniture components
Ready-to-assemble kits for desks, bookcases, cabinets, beds and storage, delivered as machined panels or solid wood parts with fittings, hardware pack, instructions and carton.
Ready-to-assemble furniture ships flat and is put together by the end buyer with a hardware pack and a printed guide. The wood is only part of the job. An RTA furniture manufacturer machines the panels or solid parts, bores every hole so parts meet without adjustment, counts and bags the hardware, writes the assembly steps and packs the kit in a carton that survives parcel delivery.
Most of the cost and most of the returns come from three places: hole accuracy, missing or wrong hardware and transit damage. A kit with perfect panels still gets a one star review if one cam lock is missing or a corner is crushed. Factories that do RTA well treat the carton and the hardware pack as part of the product.
Name the type on the RFQ. Factories that make one type well do not always make the others.
| Type | What it is | Fits |
|---|---|---|
| Panel kits | Melamine, foil, laminate or veneer faced particleboard or MDF, cut, edge banded and bored on CNC. | Desks, bookcases, wardrobes, TV stands and storage sold at value and mid price points. |
| Solid wood kits | Edge-glued or solid parts in rubberwood, pine or acacia, machined and finished before packing, joined with bolts and cross dowels. | Beds, tables, benches and shelving where buyers want real wood at a parcel friendly size. |
| Mixed kits | Solid wood frames or legs with panel tops, backs and shelves, packed as one kit. | Desks, dressers and cabinets that show wood on the frame and use panels where they do not show. |
| Multi-carton items | Large items split into two or more cartons, each labeled box 1 of 2 and so on. | Wardrobes, bunk beds and long desks that would exceed parcel size or weight limits in one carton. |
Starting points used across the trade. Your drawing sets the real values, and each factory confirms what it can hold on the quote.
| Spec | Typical value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Panel thickness | 15 to 18 mm for carcass panels, 3 to 6 mm for backs, typical | Give the core type, face material and edge band on each part. |
| Boring system | 32 mm line boring, front setback about 37 mm, typical | Keeps shelf pins and fittings on a shared grid. State it if you use another system. |
| Hole position tolerance | About ±0.2 mm on CNC boring, typical | Cam and dowel holes that drift by 1 mm stop the kit from going together. |
| Cut size tolerance | About ±0.3 to ±0.5 mm on panel length and width, typical | Tighter on parts that sit between two sides. |
| Edge banding | 0.4 to 2 mm PVC, ABS or wood veneer band, typical | Name which edges get band and which stay raw inside the carcass. |
| Carton weight | Up to about 70 kg (150 lb) per carton for parcel delivery, typical carrier limit | Lighter cartons cost less to ship and break less. Set a target weight per carton. |
Typical values, not a guarantee. Confirm every value that matters to you on the quote and the approved sample.
The usual process chain, from dried lumber or panels to packed goods. Ask which steps happen in-house and which go out to another plant.
New kits usually start with samples, a test assembly by the buyer and a carton test before the first run. Volume orders run by the container per item. Many plants set a minimum per item and color, since each decor or finish is a separate setup.
Sell mainly online and ship by parcel. They care about carton size, weight, damage rate and an assembly guide that cuts support calls.
Buy RTA lines for stores and their own sites by the container. They care about cost per cubic meter and repeat quality.
Need desks, beds and storage in volume that installers can put together fast on site.
With these points stated, every matched factory quotes the same product.
Approve one sample in writing and keep it as the reference for every shipment.
The problems that cost buyers of RTA furniture kits the most time and money, and how to head them off in the RFQ.
Related guides:
Reference: Wikipedia: Ready-to-assemble furniture
Most RTA plants buy, count and bag the fittings and screws. Many can also draft a picture based assembly guide from your 3D files. Say whether you supply any of these or want the plant to.
If you ship by parcel, a transit test such as ISTA 3A is the usual way to prove the carton works, and some sales channels require one. Ask for the test on the packed kit before the first run.
Panel kits cost less and stay flat, so they suit large carcass items. Solid wood kits cost more, weigh more and sell on real wood. Many lines mix both. We match factories that make the kit type you need.
It is a boring grid used across panel furniture: holes at 32 mm spacing set back about 37 mm from the front edge, typical. It lets shelf pins, hinges and fittings line up without custom layouts.
Clothing storage units such as dressers and chests must meet the US tip-over rule under the STURDY Act, which uses ASTM F2057-23, with a tip restraint and warning label. Tell us the market so matched factories know.
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