Justin Testa is the senior vice president of ID Products for Cognex Corp. (Natick, MA). He may be contacted at justin.testa@cognex.com. For more information, visit www.cognex.com.
With so many manufacturers today implementing direct part mark (DPM) identification programs for part traceability, the need to control the part marking process is becoming increasingly important. The original quality of a 2-D code, which serves as a part's permanent identity, can greatly affect the readability of a part as it travels through the manufacturing process, through the supply chain and ultimately through to the end use of the part.