If manufacturers continue to provide date codes for their products but
distributors discontinue tracking and segregation by date codes the result will
be, mixed date code lots sent to the customer. In many cases assembly houses
that use raw components must capture suspect material by date code. In the event
of field failures or customer defects resulting in corrective action
requirements it is usually imperative to know the problem parts date code to
cover effectivity. I feel that the date codes application should be
standardized. I have also seen where we needed to specifically order certain
date codes because the later date code product did not function properly for the
application.

On the topic of old components verses new components. I have personally seen
some pretty old,  nasty components from brokers that appeared to have been
previously used and some that were so oxidized that the leads were nearly black.
So the solderability of 3 or more year old components is a concern. Date codes
need to be standardized and tracked to ensure product quality and
accountability.

Regards,

Richard Carruth
Quality Engineer

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