Useful Rules and Definitions

Exterior Container

• A container, bundle, or assembly that is sufficient by reason of material, design, and construction to protect unit packs and intermediate containers and their contents during shipment and storage. It can be a unit pack or a container with a combination of unit packs or intermediate containers. An exterior container may or may not be used as a shipping container.

Intermediate Container

• A wrap, box, or bundle containing two or more unit packs of identical items.

Military Shipment Label (MSL)

• What is it? The MSL is a modernized version of the DD1387. It includes address information, thetransportation control number (TCN)and other data necessary to properly route shipments to defense users. It includes barcodes for the TCN, Mark For DODAAC and Piece Number. It also includes a 2D-barcode which includes all of the data on the label, making it easier to process along the way.
  
  
• When is it used? "Unless specifically exempted in the contract or solicitation, DoD and contractor- or vendor shipping activities will apply address markings using a bar coded MSL. This includes shipments moving within CONUS, between CONUS and OCONUS, or conversely between OCONUS and CONUS." (MS-129-P-1).

Shipping Container.

• An exterior container which meets carrier regulations and is of sufficient strength, by reason of material, design, and construction, to be shipped safely without further packing (e.g., wooden boxes or crates, fiber and metal drums, and corrugated and solid fiberboard boxes).

Unit Container / Unit Pack

• The first tie, wrap, or container applied to a single item, or a quantity thereof, or to a group of items of a single stock number, preserved or unpreserved, which constitutes a complete or identifiable package. A unit pack is also often referred to as a "package" or merely as a "pack."

Unit of Issue (UI / UOI)

• The UI is a standard or basic quantity that is expressed as a unit and indicated in a requisition, contract, or order as the minimum quantity issued (bottle, can, dozen, each, foot, gallon, gross, pair, pound, yard, etc.). See Unit of Issue Abbreviations.

Packed Date

• For subsistence items only, the packed date will be the date on which the item was packaged in the unit pack, regardless of the date of packing, shipping, or additional processing.

Shelf-Life

• The total period of time beginning with the date of manufacture, cure date (for elastomeric and rubber products only), assembly, pack (subsistence only), or after visual inspection/certified laboratory test/restorative action, that an item may remain in the combined wholesale (including manufacturer’s) and retail storage systems and still remain suitable for issue to and/or consumption by the end user. Shelf-life should not be confused with service life.
  
  
  • Assembled Date - The date items or parts are assembled into components, assemblies, sets, kits, or outfits (CASKOs), or the date various CASKOs are assembled into a larger unit.
    
    
  • Cured Date - The date the item or materiel was altered industrially, as to vulcanize (rubber) or to treat (synthetic elastomers) with heat or chemicals to make them infusible.
    
    
  • Expiration Date - The date by which nonextendible shelf-life items (type I) will be discarded as no longer suitable for issue/use.
    
    
  • Inspect/Test Date - The date by which extendible shelf-life items (type II) will be subjected to visual inspection, certified laboratory tests, or restoration.
    
    
  • Manufactured Date - The date the item, materiel, or commodity was fabricated, processed, produced or formed for use. For drugs, chemicals, and biologicals, the date of manufacture for products submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for certification prior to release is the date of the official certification notice. For products manufactured under the license of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), the date manufactured conforms to the definition established by the ARS. The date of manufacture will not be shown for medical items having expiration dates.

Shelf-Life Code (SLC)

• A code assigned to a shelf-life item to identify the period of time beginning with the date of manufacture, date of cure (for elastomeric and rubber products only), date of assembly, or date of pack (subsistence only), and ending with the date by which the item must be used (expiration date) or subjected to inspection, test, restoration, or disposal action.

Shelf-Life Item

• An item of supply that possesses deteriorative or unstable characteristics to the degree that a storage time period must be assigned to ensure that the item will perform satisfactorily in service.
  • Type I Shelf-life Item. An individual item of supply which is determined through an evaluation of technical test data and/or actual experience, to be an item with a definite nonextendible period of shelf-life. One exception is Type I medical shelf-life items, that may be extended if they have been accepted into and passed testing for extension in the DoD/Federal Drug Administration (FDA) Shelf-Life Extension Program (SLEP).
  • Type II Shelf-life Iitem. An individual item of supply having an assigned shelf-life time period that may be extended after completion of visual inspection/certified laboratory test, and/or restorative action.

Unit of Issue Abbreviations