VDA 4902

Overview

VDA 4902 is the German automotive industry's standard for the transport label / goods tag (Warenanhänger) used to identify shipments between automotive suppliers and manufacturers (OEMs) [1, 2]. The label is a standardized paper form that carries shipment data both as plain text and as machine-readable code-39 barcodes, so that incoming goods can be booked automatically by scanning [2, 3]. It is published by the VDA — Verband der Automobilindustrie (German Association of the Automotive Industry), the trade body that issues standardization and process-simplification recommendations for the German auto supply chain [3].

History

VDA 4902 was issued by the Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA) as a recommendation to standardize transaction processing between the supplier industry and automotive manufacturers; the goods tag it defines is sometimes also referred to as an Odette label, reflecting the parallel European Odette automotive logistics standards [3]. The standard has gone through successive versions (the current widely-used revision is Version 4), and a 2012 extension added support for printing a Data Matrix code alongside the linear barcodes [2]. Precise original publication dates are not given in the sourced material.

Technical specification

Label format. The VDA 4902 goods tag is laid out in DIN A5 landscape format, with a reduced ½ DIN A5 landscape variant and a DIN A5 portrait option also defined [3]. It can be applied as a self-adhesive label or inserted as a tag into a pocket on the load carrier [3]. Vendors also offer regional sizes such as 74 × 210 mm (small load carriers) and a half-US-Letter format for North America [2].

Barcode symbology. The data fields are encoded as individual code-39 barcodes [2, 3]. Each barcode is preceded by a leading identifier letter so that, when scanned, the receiving system immediately knows which field was read (delivery note, package number, etc.) [2, 3]. Related newer VDA labels and the 2012 extension also support code-128 and Data Matrix for higher data density [2].

Data fields. The label carries (as text and, for the key items, as barcodes) [2, 3]:

• Goods recipient (Warenempfänger) and unloading point / storage location (Abladestelle).
• Delivery note number (Lieferschein-Nr) — barcoded.
• Customer part number (Sach-Nr / part number) — barcoded, identifier P.
• Quantity (Menge) — barcoded, identifier Q.
• Supplier number (Lieferanten-Nr) — identifier V.
• Supplier / production part numbers — identifiers such as 20S (production) and 30S (supplier part).
• Date (identifier D), batch/charge number (identifier H), and package number (identifier S).
• Net and gross weight, number of boxes, and engineering-change information [2].

Identifier letters such as P (part number), Q (quantity), V (supplier), D (date), H (batch) and S (package) make each scanned barcode self-describing [2, 3].

Use cases

• Automated goods receipt at OEM and supplier inbound docks via Code 39 scanning [3].
• Identification of shipping units / load carriers in automotive logistics [2, 3].
• Standardized supplier-to-manufacturer transaction processing across the German automotive supply chain [3].

Implementations

• TEC-IT TFORMer / Barcode Studio — commercial label software shipping predefined VDA 4902 (and AIAG, Galia, Odette, VDA 4994 GTL) forms [1].
• my-VDA-Label.de — web service for printing VDA 4902 / 4994 labels with the correct Code 39 fields and identifiers [2].
• SAP integrations (e.g. via SAPscript/Smart Forms) generate VDA 4902 Warenanhänger directly from ERP shipment data [2].

No dedicated open-source VDA 4902 library was found; the symbology itself (code-39) is supported by virtually every barcode toolkit.

Comparison

VDA 4902 is the linear-barcode predecessor within a family of automotive transport labels. The newer VDA 4994 Global Transport Label (GTL) harmonizes the German VDA approach with the North American AIAG label, using denser 2D codes (Data Matrix) and a common layout for global shipments [1, 2]. Where VDA 4902 relies on multiple separate code-39 barcodes (one per field), the GTL consolidates data and adds 2D encoding. Compared with code-128, the VDA 4902's code-39 symbols are less dense and lack a mandatory check digit, but Code 39 was chosen for its ubiquity and ease of printing on early industrial equipment [2].

Status

VDA 4902 remains in active use across the German and European automotive supply chain for goods tags, even as the VDA 4994 GTL standard is adopted for global, 2D-capable shipping labels [1, 2].

Sources

1 Barcode Label Software for AIAG & VDA 4902 Transport Labels — TEC-IT 2 Print VDA label 4902 — my-VDA-Label.de 3 VDA-Warenanhänger mit Code 39 Barcodes nach VDA 4902 — my-VDA-Label.de

Deployments

No country reports mention this standard by name.