We are in the pharmaceutical industry and are modifying our Lot Control Numbering Convention. One of our questions is variable versus fixed segment length. For example, the first segment of our Lot number will be four characters wide, the year and month of manufacture (0804, 0901, 1112, etc.) , the second segment will be product class and that is where the problem. The width of our product class codes ranges from two to six characters. The third segment of our Lot Numbers will be a unique six digit number, starting with "000001" and incrementing by 1 each time a new lot number is assigned.

We are using a hyphen "-", to delimit the different segments.

0909-AB-0000001
1112-CDEFR-000001

What is the usual and customary practice? Should each segment be a fixed width which would require a "filler character" to pad out the remaining unused characters to the right of the product code in the second segment? If so, what is the usual and customary character to pad the second segment?

Or is it preferable not to pad the product code segment and allow that segment to be a variable width?

Thank you for all your help,,

Ed

We are in the pharmaceutical industry and are modifying our Lot Control Numbering Convention. One of our questions is variable versus fixed segment length. For example, the first segment of our Lot number will be four characters wide, the year and month of manufacture (0804, 0901, 1112, etc.) , the second segment will be product class and that is where the problem. The width of our product class codes ranges from two to six characters. The third segment of our Lot Numbers will be a unique six digit number, starting with "000001" and incrementing by 1 each time a new lot number is assigned.

We are using a hyphen "-", to delimit the different segments.

0909-AB-0000001
1112-CDEFR-000001

What is the usual and customary practice? Should each segment be a fixed width which would require a "filler character" to pad out the remaining unused characters to the right of the product code in the second segment? If so, what is the usual and customary character to pad the second segment?

Or is it preferable not to pad the product code segment and allow that segment to be a variable width?

Thank you for all your help,,

Ed

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DISCLAIMER:
I have no family or financial connection with Zebra (http://www.zebra.com/id/zebra/na/en/index/industry_solutions/industries/manufacturing/pharmaceutical.html) other than being a former customer of theirs and living in the same county as their Illinois headquarters. I found their white paper on pharma labeling strategies (http://www.zebra.com/id/zebra/na/en/documentlibrary/whitepapers/track_trace_life_sciences.File.tmp/WP13359L_Track_Trace_R1.pdf) to comply with or exceed current regulations an interesting and riveting read.

That said, I have always found over my forty plus years of experience that asking vendors and suppliers the right questions with the proper tone will generate all sorts of useful information. When I first got involved in using bar codes for our labeling, I found our OEM customers were as inexperienced and unknowledgeable as we. Sticking to my tried and true formula, I called up several manufacturers of bar coding equipment and simply told the truth, adding the plea, "Please send me someone who can make us as smart as you are about bar coding!"

The first to respond with a visit was Zebra, probably because we were less than 20 minutes from their Chicago suburban location. I was impressed by how much information we were able to get from Zebra and the other bar code equipment manufacturers about what companies similar to ours were doing, what worked, what didn't, and yet never giving away trade secrets of those customers.

When we were struggling with longer and longer bar codes, stretching the limits of readability and label space, our surprising solution came from our regular UPS driver when he was bragging about how much information could be put into a new bar code UPS was using - 2D bar codes. I understand some pharma manufacturers have begun labeling every capsule (not just the packaging) with a unique 2D code which provides absolute identity and traceability.

The price has come down and speed of printers and scanners has come up in the years since I first ventured into bar coding, but I'm positive the OEMs are still just as willing to educate a prospect in the arcane secrets of bar coding.

:topic:
Don't be discouraged by slow answers. Weekends are normally slow here in the Cove.

Wes, thank you very much for your reply.

We will follow your suggestion; however, we were attempting to gain input from a wide variety of sources before making a decision. Again, thank you very much for taking time to post such a thorough and thoughtful response.

Welcome to the Cove, EMBWayne :bigwave:

Thanks Wes, the white paper is very interesting :agree1: