There are 3 ways to understand date code. Understanding these methods is crucial since production codes hold information regarding the product’s condition. They typically appear in tiny, nearly imperceptible print, making it essential for you to grasp how to read them.
What is The Date Code?
Production Code is a collection of numbers or letters that depict the production history of a product. Generally, it includes production time such as date, month, and year.
For companies, Production Codes also serve to track products and manage inventory. This allows companies to locate products in the supply chain, facilitating product recalls due to quality issues.
For consumers, Production Codes serve to determine the expiration date or age of the product. Hence, most Production Codes appear in time units. Additionally, Production Codes also indicate that the product is registered with BPOM, ensuring product safety and authenticity.
What is Coming With Date Code?
It’s important to note that Production Codes and Expiry Codes are different. Production codes show the production time of a product, while Expiry Codes inform the maximum age of the product for consumption.
To understand how to read the production code correctly, you need to understand various terms often included with the production code. Here are some of them :
1. Product By (P/M) and Manufactured By (MFD/MFG)
The terms P/M and MFD/MFG refer to the production date of a product. Literally, these codes mean ‘produced on’ or ‘produced by’. For example, if the packaging states MFD 021224, it means the product was produced on February 2, 2024.
2. Production Line or Company Unit
Production Codes often followed by information on the Production Line and Company Unit. The Production Line is the production process flow to produce a product. In manufacturing processes, there are several Production Lines. Meanwhile, the Company Unit in the production code represents the unit where the product was produced.
3. Expiry Date or Expiration Time
The Expiry Date EXP or expiration date is usually also abbreviated as BB/BBE (Best Before). However, they have quite different meanings. Expired means that consuming the product after the EXP date is not good for health. Meanwhile, BBE means the product can still be consumed but not in its best condition.
How to Understand the Date Code
The production code for each product varies depending on each company’s policy. However, the concept used is almost the same. Here are some examples of production codes and how to read them.
1. Cigarette Production Codes consisting of 8-10 Characters
Cigarette production codes are one of the longest production codes. This is because each cigarette has a different production code and usually consists of 8-10 characters. For example, the Production Code of Djarum Super below:
Cigarette Production Code: 09/11/2017. This means the cigarettes were produced on November 9, 2017.
Accompanying the Production Code is 2421540122, including tobacco, production time, and manufacturing table codes. It’s an internal product code used for tracking issues back to production operators and machines.
2. Date Code With 6 Digit Number and 1 Letter
For instance: B04567
Interpretation:
- “B” likely represents the production year, e.g., 2001, 2011, or 2021.
- “04” indicates the production month, April.
- “567” denotes the production batch number.
3. Date Code with 6 Digit Only
As an example: B04567
To read it:
- The letter B signifies the manufacturing year.
- Typically, A marks the start of a decade like 2000, 2010, or 2020.
- Hence, B would represent years like 2001,
How to Make Date Code Easily
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The Light Emboss 210 machine has a speed of 300ppm, meaning it can produce 300 Production Codes per minute, with power consumption of only 0.4K Watt.
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