Implementing the DoD Unique Identification (UID) Requirement and Understanding Its Impact on Manufacturing and Data Management Systems

In July of 2003, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) issued a memo that made Unique Identification (UID) a mandatory Department of Defense (DoD) requirement on all solicitations issued on or after January 1, 2004. There are two aspects of the UID requirement that require attention as a company works to implement it into their processes - physical marking requirements and data management requirements. The difficulty in implementing the UID requirement grows at a seemingly exponential rate with respect to the complexity of the existing manufacturing and/or data management systems.

This paper examines some of the challenges that Lockheed Martin Aeronautics has encountered as it has begun to implement the UID requirement into its production line and its data systems. This paper also explores lessons learned with respect to the UID physical marking and data management process and makes recommendations to help ease the difficulties associated with updating these systems in order to meet the UID requirement.