7-2accurate means of identifying one specific item ofmaterial. Each company develops a system to meet itsown needs.The Department of Defense (DoD) supply systemstocks over 4 million items. The Navy supply systemalone stocks over 1 million items. Because of that, thefederal catalog system was developed. It ensures theproper requisitioning of items from either an activityashore or from a unit of the mobile logistics supportforce.The federal catalog system is responsible fornaming, describing, classifying, and numbering all itemscarried under centralized inventory control by the DoDand the civil agencies of the federal government. In allsupply functions from purchase to final disposal, onlyone identification may be used for each item.This system also serves as an economy measure.Instead of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and civil agencieseach purchasing and maintaining large stocks ofmaterials, all agencies can make use of centralizedstocks. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)countries also use the federal catalog system.STOCK AND CONTROLNUMBERSStock and control numbers are used to identify andorder material in the supply system. The identificationnumbers are known asnational stock numbers (NSN),a variation of the NSN referred to as a NATOstock number,Navy item control numbers, andlocal item control numbers.A definition and description of the types of stockand control numbers are stated in the followingparagraphs.National Stock NumbersThe national stock numbers (NSN) are the mostcommon numbers used to identify material. An NSN isa 13-digit number consisting of a 4-digit federal supplyclassification (FSC) code number and a 9-digit nationalitem identification number (NIIN). Figure 7-1 shows thetypical NSN format.Figure 7-1.—Typical NSN format.The federal classification code (FSC) numberidentifies an item by commodity or description. The firsttwo digits of the FSC are called the FSC group, and thelast two digits of the FSC are called the FSC class.Figure 7-2 is an example of the FSC system. The firsttwo digits denote the group or major division of thecommodities; for example, group 53 is hardware andabrasives. The last two digits (for example, 05) denotethe class or subdivision within a group. In other words,screws are a class or subdivision in the hardware andabrasives group.The national item identification number (NIIN)identifies each item of supply used by the Department ofDefense (DoD) and the North Atlantic TreatyOrganization (NATO). The NIIN relates to identificationdata that makes an item of supply different (as far asDoD is concerned) from every other item of supply. Theamount and type of identification data depend on theitem and its intended use. Although the NIIN is part ofthe national stock number (NSN), it is usedindependently to identify an item. Except foridentification lists, most federal supply catalogs arearranged in NIIN order.
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