UID Labeling – avoiding simple mistakes

We’ve been helping DoD contractors (and their sub-contractors) get into MIL-STD-130 compliance for a few years now and have 100’s of customers for whom we’ve either provided printing systems or verified labels.

When you consider that the UID mandate was launched in 1996, you might be surprised to learn that a lot of companies – including big contractors that should know better – are still printing UID marks that are not compliant.

I’ve checked labels from a number of sources over the last few weeks and the same errors seem to come up all the time. For example:

When designing a format using Text Element Identifiers (Format 12), there must be a space between the TEI and the data. For example MFR 03PZ3 is OK. MFR03PZ3 is not and will fail verification and cause problems downstream.

Note that while the space is needed after the TEI, spaces are not allowed in the data: PNO A22390-A is good. PNO A22390 A will fail.

If you are using Format 6, use 17V (Part Number) in your Construct 2 UID, not 30V (Current Part Number) – using 30V in the UID will fail every time. You can of course add a second label with the 30V Current Part Number encoded. The idea is that if the Current Part Number is changed, the separate label can be replaced. The original UID should not be changed.

The best way to ensure your UID labeling is in compliance is to work with Winco ID so that we can set you up with the best equipment and software to be able to produce 100% verified labels. Better yet, we’ll show you how to make sure this is the case – either in person or on-line. Don’t want to print your own labels? No problem: we can do it for you and provide a verification report for every label.

Want a really quick and simple way to check the structure (validate) your UID marks? get the smartphone app from our friends at A2B Tracking.

Do you need to print UID labels for the DoD? How do you make sure yours are 100% correct?