Like many other circuit assemblers we cross reference an incoming reel of components Manufacturers PN (MPN) to our company’s Internal Part number (IPN). For years I've been scanning the MPN & Qty on the manufacturers label and using a simple database to equate their number to ours. The manufacturers have been using barcode formats Code 39 or 128. Manufacturers are changing to 2D barcode formats such as PDF417 (Vishay) or Data Matrix ECC200 (Bourns) which have large character capacity and they are embedding all their information fields in a single barcode character string. My problem now is, how do I determine where the PN, Qty, … is in the very large string of data. Yes, I can ask Vishay what their format is to determine where I need to look but what about Texas Instruments, Panasonic, Bourns, … they are all different. The component manufacturers are not coordinating a common data format.
Vishay PDF417 format barcode data string sample: DF02SA-E3/77 HO0000000005/09/16 201620CNHO 1500 501303398 000011620 S0130010 HO0000360101
Bourns Data Matrix ECC200 format barcode data string sample: PSRU8043-470Y+Q1000+9D1602+1TCA164778M
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