Things may have seemed quiet for a bit on the subject of MIL-STD-129 Department of Defense military labeling standard. Not as quiet as you may think. Reports show both MIL-STD-130 and MIL-STD-129 have been more heavily enforced in the field.
Earlier this year, the US Government made the following announcement to the attention of DLA Suppliers with important information regarding Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) component of MIL-STD-129.
“Effective October 1, 2011, all non-compliant passive RFID shipments will result in a negative impact to suppliers past performance history.” This affects you if you have or your customer has a DoD contract and ships stock to a DLA (Defense Logistics Agency) depot listed in the clause at DFARS 252.211-7006.
The announcement also states: “In addition to tagging shipments, an advance shipment notice is also required. The receiving report in Wide Area Workflow (WAWF) serves as the advance shipment notice. If the advance shipment notice is not submitted before your shipment arrives at the depot, you are in non-compliance.”
Anyone who has been tagging with RFID tags can tell you that the data associated with these tags can create a lot of data, quickly. As it does, it becomes more important for you to automate the data transmission process with the WAWF. Not only will it save workers time, accuracy increases and transmission costs can be minimized or eliminated. Since this is a large part of how you get paid, there is great incentive to get your ASN done quickly and correctly.
With so many deadlines and demands made on business today, it may be that until you know it will be enforced, it may slip behind in your priority. This is not one that should be left to your DCMA inspection to find out. Errors and delays can be expensive, penalties can exceed your shipment’s profit, and now it could cost you your (or your customer’s) contract.
How Can Winco ID Help You?
Winco ID has been educating our customers and those interested in compliance with MIL-STD-129 and MIL-STD-130 in our regional seminars, webinars, and on-site presentations. Either way, in just a few hours you will learn what you need to do to make and verify your labels correctly, manage the associated data over the WAWF, and know you are in 100% compliance. Read more here.
In addition to simplifying the process to fit in your workflow, we’ll show you how to extend your investment in compliance labeling, UID and RFID. You’ll learn how easy it is to track items in your business, deter counterfeiting, and protect your brand.
If you would like to talk to us about your DoD or any other kinds of labeling challenges you have, give Winco ID a call at 1-800-325-5260 X237 for more information. Need 100% compliant labels? Ask about our pre-printed label service to meet deadlines and impress your customer. For seminar info, please visit our events page.
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Additional Resources Recommended by the DLA:
A complete list of passive RFID requirements for suppliers can be found at DFARS 252.211-7006. You can view the clause at this link: http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/dars/dfars/html/current/252211.htm#252.211-7006.
Additional information regarding RFID (Including a copy of the DOD Suppliers Passive RFID Guide)is available at: http://www.acq.osd.mil/log/rfid/index.htm.
WAWF online training site for a complete module on entering RFID tags.
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