Manufacturers have developed particular systems to meet their specific needs. Consequently, similar types of items satisfying comparable needs, but manufactured by different companies, will be identified by a different numbering schemes. This does not satisfy the requirements of users like armed forces who manage their inventories by item type, rather than origin or use. For them, it does not matter by whom it is used and on which system or equipment it is used; if it has the same characteristics (form, fit and function), it will be assigned one NATO Stock Number (NSN). That NSN will then be used by Logisticians of all NATO nations and Armed Forces to manage that item.
<Form, Fit and Function> means:
- Form - the shape, size, dimensions, and other physical measurable parameters that uniquely characterize a product. For software, form denotes the language and media.
- Fit - the ability of a product to interface or interconnect with an integral part of another product.
- Function - the actions that a product is designed to perform.
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