Direct part marking: The next hot trend in automatic identification
Industries as varied as defense, automotive and aerospace are turning to direct part marking to track parts in the supply chain.
By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large -- Modern Materials Handling, 4/26/2007
Can you name the automatic identification technology currently being embraced by the Department of Defense (DoD), NASA and pharmaceutical manufacturers along with auto makers and the aerospace industry?
If you guessed RFID like we did during a recent conversation with Motorola, you’d only be half right. The other half is direct part marking (DPM), a technique for permanently marking parts and assets with a unique identifier that can be used in the future for tacking and tracing.
The key word is permanent, says Mike Poldino, vice president of marketing for Motorola’s ADC division.
“What we’re talking about is molding, etching, engraving, thermal spraying or punching a 2D DataMatix bar code directly on the asset that you want to track in the future,” says Poldino. “Typically, these are assets or products that need to be serialized but are difficult, if not impossible, to tag with a traditional bar code.” While there are other codes that can be direct part marked, Motorola is clearly placing its bet on DataMatrix.
Candidates for DPM
Examples of parts that are direct marked include tires (the bar codes are molded into the tire); engine pistons and transmission parts (tags would wear off during use); equipment and machinery in the petrochemical industry (they operate in a hazardous environment); and surgical instruments and high-value tools (accurate inventory before and after a process is completed is critical).
Companies are also looking at direct part marking to deter counterfeiting, especially as parts manufacturing goes global. “It’s much more difficult to counterfeit a direct-marked part,” says Poldino. “That’s why there’s a mandate that air bags and air bag propulsion units have a direct part mark to reduce the opportunity for fraud.”
Likewise, the DoD has mandated that certain products, including high-value components, carry a permanent universal identification number (UID) that enables tracking of that item throughout its lifecycle. Poldino says DPM has become the default method for that type of marking.
Adoption is ramping up
DPM does share some traits with that other technology making the rounds: RFID. Even though both have been around for years, adoption has been slow.In the case of DPM, there are two good reasons.
1) A lack of established standards, much like RFID prior to the adoption of the Gen2 specification.
2) Until recently, 2D DataMatrix bar codes could only be read by vision systems, which cost more than traditional bar code scanners.
Both of those may be changing. “The industry is going through the process of establishing standards for DPM now,” says Poldino. “And new imaging systems are coming to market that can read DPM bar codes yet are priced in the range of a traditional bar code scanners.”
In fact, Motorola is introducing a line of DPM readers. Poldino says these new readers have been fine tuned specifically for DPM applications, along with middleware that can take advantage of the information coming from the scanners.
DPM applications and solutions are still evolving, Poldino adds. But as more end users mandate direct part marking, Poldino and Motorola expect to see the use expand.
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