AS9132 : A Tool to Maintain Quality standardization

Aerospace industry, automotive industry and medical sectors now-a-days are concerned about direct marking and traceability issues. Thanks to the highly developed reading and marking technologies of the present day, the problems inherent to the conventional and manual marking methods have been solved by the innovative automated marking technologies. This is why, AS9132 standard is extensively used for dot peen marking of data matrix codes People who are new to AS9132 must be wondering what this phenomenon is all about. AS9132 is essentially a new UID coding standard which defines the uniformity, quality and other technical requirements for Dot Peen marking and other metal components using data matrix symbolism. This AS9132 standard also defines the standard criteria essential to ensure electronic scanning or reading of the symbol. Specific AS9132 guidelines with regard to the direct part marking of aerospace components have been issued by the ATA (Air Transport Association).

These issued guidelines (SPEC 2000, Chapter 9) state for permanent part identification using bar code technology especially using data matrix symbols.

The main objective is to mark a part with a ‘unique identifier’ to allow tracking of serialized parts during full life cycle of the parts and facilitate the use of automated processes in parts handling. Chapter 9 has explicitly mentioned about data content although technical requirements or quality for Dot Peen and other marking technologies has not been mentioned.