Date codes

Packages often carry a date code. If this can be interpreted, it will disclose the age of the sample, and this can be very important. An unfamiliar pack may be very old as well as very new, and there can be little point in analysing a five-year-old sample. A second piece of information that may be disclosed is the place of manufacture, if the manufacturer has more than one factory. This could be of interest to anyone trying to piece together a clear picture of the manufacturer s operations. 

Information that may be contained in the date code includes the following. Not all of these items are necessarily present. Characters may be letters as well as numbers. 

Year usually two characters, not necessarily adjacent, possibly reversed. Not necessarily present at all manufacturer may use a work cycle of arbitrary length, say 250 or 1000 days. 

Week if a month code is present, the week code will be a single character with not more than five values. Otherwise two characters, again not necessarily adjacent, possibly reversed, one showing only five different values. 

---

Provide registers for allocating batch numbers, date codes, and other identification data when appropriate. 

Concluding the Mexican adventure, by examining the stamped date codes, we finally traced the problem to some manufacturing tolerances on our switcher IC. We also then created an Apps fix (in this case, a soft-start tweak if I remember right), and we were on our way back, with no liability. That was of utmost importance. 

Expiration Dating, Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, Vol. 4, Part 211, 21CFR211.137. 

Bottles are normally coded with a best before date and often a closed code giving the batch or production record for tracing purposes. These are applied by laser printer or ink jet onto the label, cap or neck of the bottle. There is a variety of on-line inspection devices available for ensuring the quahty of the product, for example, empty bottle inspectors, hydrocarbon sniffers (to check that returnable bottles have not been used for storage of paraffin, etc.), fill height detectors, label apphcation detectors and date code verifies. All of these can be found on the modem bottling line. 

The term print/apply refers to the ability to print identifying information directly onto a label just before its application. Serial numbers, date codes, lot codes, and S.K.U. numbers are examples of such printed information or identihers. 

Unique identifiers for modules (Barcode, date codes, etc.)... 

Cell worn out 6 Date code/dealer test 8 384... 

The battery industry developed a statistical method for determining the concentration of mercury in the waste stream at any point in time, and used this to predict the future date by which all of the mercury within primary batteries will have passed through the waste stream. This method, which uses date code analysis was developed over a period of many years through stockpile analyses in Germany, Sweden, Belgium and The Netherlands. It is employed annually in Europe to forecast the decline of residual... 

Manufacturers generally either stamp date codes on the base or side of the battery, or include a freshness code on the battery label. The age of each battery and hence the mercury content can be determined by recording the manufacturers code and converting this back to the year of manufacture. Some batteries can be assigned to manufacturing dates one year earlier than their actual year of manufacture as a result of using freshness codes, simply because the manufacturer will not replace his stocks of battery labels on January 1st each year. 

When applying this technology to batteries, it is important to appreciate that many thousands of unique battery labels are marketed today. These include main manufacturer brands such as Duracell, Energizer, Varta etc., as well as private labelled batteries for retail chains. The database needs to allow for subtle differences in the battery label, such as a change in position of a visible date code, as well as more obvious ones such as a Duracell or Energizer label with or without an on-cell power meter. Historical label changes need to be included too. Each manufacturer has potentially scores of changes to his main brand product label over the past ten years. 

Where the batch number incorporates a date code, then the date should relate to a date of first processing and not to subsequent filling or packaging operations. 

Rating label Company, model number, yoltage, amperage and frequency, lEC symbols, yisible, durable, next to input, date code (machines), other ... 

The manufacturer should provide a dated, coded and titled instruction sheet with each delivery of adhesive. It should refer to this Specification and indicate conformance with it. It should also state... 

Do not print directly on unpigmented bottles, except date coding. 

Destructive physical analysis (DPA) examination tests, where two pieces of each lot of parts (as a minimum) were cut open and examined to determine the workmanship of the parts. If the workmanship was judged to be poor, the whole lot of parts were rejected (a lot of parts is defined as parts from one manufacturer from one assembly line and one date code). 

Finally, if the purpose of the analysis is to discover something about a new consumer product, make sure as far as possible that the sample analysed really is the new product. If the packaging design is new, that is normally sufficient evidence. If it is not, check the date code to confirm that the sample is of very recent manufacture. If it does not have a date code, or the date code cannot be interpreted, obtain the samples from a large and busy supermarket where the turnover of stock is likely to be rapid, rather than from a small corner shop, which may sell only a few packs a year. Getting hold of new industrial products is more difficult. 

Many boards still require legend and marking to identify part numbers and component locations, for company logos, date codes, and a multitude of other reasons. These can be etched into the copper or, more typically, added in a separate process after solder mask. For good legibility, materials are of a color that contrasts with the solder mask color. 

The manufacturer should advise on proper storage conditions for both warehouse and shop, and on recommended shelf-life. The criterion to be applied in determining storage conditions and shelf-life is that, at time of sale, no detectable loss of nutritional quality shall have occurred. Date coding shall be observed and customers attention shall be drawn to expiry dates for perishable commodities. Adequate control of stock rotation must be practised in both warehouse storage and retail outlets to ensure that the commodity meets these requirements. 

---