Guidelines For Use Of 3 Of 9
Applications in this guideline share both a single symbol structure, and a stacked symbol structure consisting of two (2) bar codes. See Fig 1 and Fig 2
*References in this document are indicated by bracketed numbers and are listed in the order of appearance in the References section.
Each barcode is composed of three (3) data elements. They are as follows: (1) The data identifier. (2) The VMRS Manufacturer Code, (3) The manufacturer's part number. Also included in the bar code are: (4) start/stop characters and (5) data separator definitions (for single symbol structure only.)
- Data Identifier . This is a special character string which defines the specific intended use of the data that immediately follows. The data identifier shall be an alpha character or an alpha character preceded by up to three numeric characters as defined by ANSI/F.A.C.T.-1. [1] The FACT, data identifier for the single symbol structure shown in Fig 1 is 18P. The definition of 18P is "the combined VMRS Manufacturer's name and item code assigned by the supplier." For the stacked bar code symbol structure, the data identifiers, as defined by ANSI/F.A.C.T.-1, shall be 16V for the VMRS Manufacturer Code and (1P) for part number. See Fig 2
- VMRS Manufacturer Code . Code Key 34 has up to five alpha characters that identify the truck manufacturer or supplier name that has ownership of the part number on the bar coded label. The code is assigned by the Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) for use as part of the VMRS standard. Manufacturers must obtain their code from the Technology & Maintenance Council, 950 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, VA 22203.
- Manufacturer's Part Number . This is the part number assigned by the manufacturer (supplier).
- Start/Stop Characters . These are the distance characters used at the beginning and end of each bar code symbol to provide initial timing references and direction-of-read information to the decoding logic.
- Data Separator . This is a character that separates two data fields in a concatenated bar code such as in Fig 1 The bar code is structured as follows with ANSI/FACT Data Identifier of 18P; VMRS Manufacturer Code of ABCDE, Data Separator of ".", and part number of 1234567890. This gives: (start character) 18PABCDE. 1234567890 (stop character).
- Human Readable Interpretation . The human readable interpretation (HRI) of the Code 39 bar code symbol should be printed in conformance with the following requirements:
The human readable interpretation of the bar code symbol shall represent the encoded information. It shall appear directly above or below the bar code symbol and shall be consistent for any individual part or unit pack. The data identifier for each bar code symbol shall appear in human-readable format in parenthesis. The start and stop characters should not appear in human-readable format. While any human-readable font is acceptable, the character height shall be a minimum of 0.094 inches (2.44 mm).