Also known as Part Identification Number (PIN) or piece mark for individual piece parts.
Military Standard MIL-STD-100G Department of Defense Standard Practice for Engineering Drawings has defined a part number below.
Pick a starting number (typically 1 or 100) and keep incrementing. This system is easy to implement, easy to automate, and simple. However, the part number contains no valuable information about the part.
McMaster-Carr uses a similar part numbering scheme, see below:
Each of the piece parts of a weldment share the weldment part number and are followed by a few characters. This system is easy to implement, easy to automate, you know where piece parts belong. However, it may need duplicate part number if the part is used across multiple weldments.
The first few characters represent the job the part is for. This is ideal if you are running multiple jobs and parts are getting mixed up.
Commonly used in the aerospace industry. Comprised of a base part number, dash, and number.
An intelligent part numbering scheme allows the user to extract information about the part such as part type (assembly, weldment, piece part), material, size, or function just by looking at the part number.
This scheme is more common for situations where an end user maybe referencing the part number, such as the example with ordering screw jacks from Joyce Dayton.
The first few characters of the part number signify the part type. The most important drawings will always be at the top (when sorted alphabetically).
A lot of structural steel fabricators use a piece mark system, see below. These numbers reset for each project, which could result in confusion when multiple jobs are released to the floor.
