Cognex, Lockheed Martin partner for DoD-mandated coding compliance
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 9/1/2005 6:00:00 AM
Machine vision technology vendor Cognex says a partnership with Lockheed Martin will bring defense contractors an integrated solution to meet Department of Defense (DoD)-required unique identification, or UID.
The DoD says any equipment it purchases with a value greater than $5,000—or that requires serialization—be marked with a 2D matrix code that uniquely identifies each item. The agreement marries Cognex 2D Data Matrix reading technology with Lockheed Martin's I-GUIDES data management software. I-GUIDES manages UID-related data, creating a process audit trail, and ensuring UID compliance.
As Justin Testa, senior VP, ID Products, for Cognex, describes it, UID compliance requires parts marking, data validation, print-quality verification, and code reading, which Cognex delivers; as well as aggregation of data, which Lockheed Martin's I-GUIDES provides.
Users gain ready compliance and integration.
Says Testa, "Before now, users had to create in-house solutions for UID data management, or customize a third-party application and integrate that with our readers. I-GUIDES is very application-specific to UID."
2D Data Matrix technology complements either bar-code or RFID technology used in UID. 2D matrix code holds more data than a bar code, at a lower cost and with more print-on practicality versus RFID. Says Testa, "You wouldn't put an RFID tag on a jet engine turbine blade, but might have one on a crate carrying that engine."
The initial driver behind the partnership is of course UID compliance, but Testa foresees an eventual greater ROI in applications for tracking many different kinds of products from cradle to grave, which some say will be standard operating procedure in the not-too-distant future.
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