The MIL-STD-130m Standard For the Product Designers

The U.S. Department of Defense started the marking of the items with UID to simplify the process of keeping track of the items. The crucial purpose required a specific standard to help the management and enhance the asset tracking process. MIL-STD-130 is the standard that determines the criteria and provides guidance about the identification marking of the items. The MIL-STD-130m is a version of the standard with certain changes with its previous version. The DoD introduced some changes to the MIL-STD-130L and on 2nd December 2005, the DoD generated a new standard MIL-STD-130m. The later version of the standard provides better guidance about the marking system and verification in a detailed manner.

The MIL-STD-130m is involved with every aspect of UID marking starting from allotting the UID to the items to verification of the data after the marking. The criteria mentioned in the standard are followed by all the agencies and departments of DoD.

Criteria For the Product Designers

Moreover, the criteria provided by the standards are the guidance for the product designers to develop the items identification marking according to the requirements. The specific requirements for the product definition data such as marking content, location, size and application process must be mentioned by the product designers. For the initial manufacturers, it requires more than simple information of product definition data that requires marking accordance with the MIL-STD-130m standard. The definition mentioned in section 3 for the use of prevailing engineering documentation technology by the product designers has been used throughout the standard. The standard has been developed carefully to provide clear definitions of applications to avoid any conflict.

Acquiring Activities of the Property

According to the MIL-STD-130 standard, simply stating the marking information about the product complying with the standard is not enough. The product designers are required to mention the acquiring activities in their contractual instruments. It is also essential for the product designers to ensure that the items require unique identification and develop the markings on the basis of item marking requirements criteria mentioned in the standard. The item identification marking should contain personal identification number of the item and the supplier details.

The MIL-STD-130m provides the criteria for both Machine Readable Information (MRI) and Human Readable Information (HRI). The item marking criteria for identification of items and development of specific marking requirements are applicable to all military property produced, stored, stocked or issued by the DoD. The figures mentioned in the standards are intended to help the users getting better knowledge of practices described in the text. However, the applicability of the standards doesn’t depend on the presence of the figures. Some of the military items, that don’t qualify the requirements of UID marking, are not included in the provisions of this standard. Evaluation of the acquiring activity determines the extent to which the requirements can be tailored.