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VDA 4902 label template – print free online.
VDA 4902 is the goods tag (Warenanhänger) of the German automotive industry, with Code 39 barcodes. Pick a template, fill in the fields and print it free in your browser.
How to print a VDA 4902 label
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01
Choose the template
Use the A5 tag for pallets and the 210 × 74 mm tag for small load carriers (KLT) and cartons, as customer manuals ask. For steel deliveries, pick the Stahl template.
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02
Enter the delivery data
Copy the delivery note number (3), customer part number (8) and quantity (9) from the delivery note, so the tag matches your shipping notice. In bar-coded fields, use only capitals, digits, space and - . $ / + %.
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03
Print and attach
Download the print-ready PDF and print it at 100%, not “fit to page”, on A5 or 210 × 74 mm stock. Remove old tags and fix the new one where your customer's manual says.
What is a VDA 4902 label?
A VDA 4902 label is the goods tag that identifies each load carrier between supplier, forwarder and receiving plant. VDA, the German Association of the Automotive Industry, publishes it under the title Warenanhänger. The A5 tag has 17 numbered fields; in TEC-IT's template, seven of them also print as Code 39 barcodes. Version 4 dates from 1996, with additions from 2012. VDA's list of August 2024 marks it as replaced by VDA 4994 and no longer recommended, yet still in use in large parts of the industry.
What a VDA 4902 tag shows
Shipping data fills the upper third of the A5 tag: receiver, unloading point, delivery note number, supplier's short address, weights and package count (1–7). The customer part number (8) spans the full width in 40-point type. Fields 9–16 follow below, from quantity to batch number, with the full supplier address (17) as the footer.
In TEC-IT's template, fields 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15 and 16 also print as Code 39 barcodes. Each barcode starts with a data identifier (DI) naming its content, such as P for the customer part number.
Who asks for VDA 4902, and why
Manufacturers write the tag into their supplier manuals. Röchling Automotive's manual of December 2024 asks for a goods tag on each container and a master label on each pallet, to Odette or VDA 4902 version 4. Engine maker Hatz's company standard (Werknorm) of August 2019 requires a barcoded VDA 4902 tag on every load carrier.
Dräxlmaier's requirements of January 2026 call for VDA 4994 or AIAG labels instead. Where the tag is required, its data must match the delivery note and your electronic shipping data (EDI). Hatz reserves the right to charge suppliers for extra costs when its rules are not met.
Printing VDA 4902 tags at volume
Online, you fill in one tag at a time; after a free sign-in, a data sheet holds several tags and exports them as one file. At volume, print the tags from your shipping notice data (VDA 4913 or its successor, VDA 4987 DESADV), which already holds the data for fields 3, 9 and 15.
TFORMer Server takes print requests from SAP or Oracle, and TFORMer Workstation imports Excel or CSV. For a customer's own variant, such as the 2P barcode in field 14 of SEG Automotive's 2018 manual, adapt the VDA layout in TFORMer Designer.
VDA 4902 at a glance
- Issuer
- VDA, German Association of the Automotive Industry
- Version
- 4 (1996, additions from 2012)
- Status (VDA, August 2024)
- No longer recommended, still in use
- Successor
- VDA 4994 Global Transport Label (GTL), version 2.0
- Formats
- 210 × 148 mm (A5) master label, 210 × 74 mm single label
- Fields
- 17 on the A5 tag, 12 on TEC-IT's KLT tag
- Barcode
- Code 39, no check digit in TEC-IT's templates
- Data identifiers (TEC-IT)
- N, P, Q, V, H; S, M or G (field 15); 30S, B or 20S (field 11)
- Bar size (TEC-IT)
- 0.339 mm narrow bar; 13 mm high on A5, 6 mm on KLT
- Barcode characters
- A–Z, 0–9, space and - . $ / + %
Choosing SINGLE, MULTI or MIXED
On the German A5 template and its translations, the load type sets the DI of the package number (15) and, for mixed loads, replaces the part number (8).
| Type | DI in field 15 | What the tag shows |
|---|---|---|
| SINGLE | S | One customer part number (8) with its barcode |
| MULTI | M | One part number; M marks a load unit of several packages |
| MIXED | G | MISCHSENDUNG instead of part number and barcode; delivery note number optional |
SEG Automotive's 2018 manual reads S as packages without secondary packaging, M as a loading unit with a single serial number and G as a mixed loading unit or pallet. Röchling's 2024 manual accepts mixed pallets only by prior agreement.
Checks before you print
- Length limits. Keep to the maximum lengths in the field table. Above them, fields 3, 9, 12, 15 and 16 print a barcode fitted to the field instead of the 0.339 mm bar, and field 11 prints none.
- Whole numbers in fields 5–7. Weights and package count take digits only in TEC-IT's templates: no decimal comma, no unit.
- Package numbers in your EDI data. SEG Automotive's 2018 manual wants every package number (15) in your VDA 4913 data as well as on the delivery note.
Common VDA 4902 mistakes
- Sample data left on the tag. The editor opens with samples such as receiver MAYR WERKE AG and date D 910226 and prints them if you skip a field. Overwrite every field.
- Lowercase letters or umlauts in a bar-coded field. Code 39 cannot encode them, so the template refuses the value. Write capitals and spell umlauts out, like the sample GEBLAESE.
- A mixed pallet tagged MULTI. The tag then shows one part number for several parts. Choose MIXED instead.
- Field 11 filled without checking the manual. Customers use it differently: SEG Automotive's 2018 sample tag shows the supplier part number (30S), BPW asks for the customer's order number (B).
How VDA 4902 differs from related labels
VDA's named successor and current recommendation. TEC-IT's VDA 4994 templates use DataMatrix and a Code 128 package ID instead of Code 39, and VDA requires a worldwide unique package number on this label.
TEC-IT's Odette OTL 1 templates use Code 39 with the data identifiers N, P, Q, V, S/M/G, 30S and H, one template per load type. Röchling's manual accepts Odette or VDA 4902.
TEC-IT's Galia ETI.9 templates are 210 × 74 mm labels with Code 128, license-plate versions included.
TEC-IT's Volkswagen templates use the GTL layout with Code 128 and PDF417; the VW / Audi transport label among them is based on VDA 4902.
The fields of a VDA 4902 label
Numbers 1–17 are printed on TEC-IT's German A5 template, and Hatz, SEG Automotive and BPW number the fields the same way. Rows marked — are editor inputs with no printed number or caption. The Barcode column shows the data identifier (DI) in front of the data; Max. length repeats the template's notes, such as “max. 8 Zeichen (lt. VDA)”.
| No. | Field | Caption on the label | Content | Barcode | Max. length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Label type | Art der Sendung (SINGLE, MULTI, MIXED) | SINGLE, MULTI or MIXED. Sets the DI of field 15 to S, M or G; MIXED prints MISCHSENDUNG in field 8. | — | — |
| 1 | Receiver | Warenempfänger | Name and address of the receiving plant: 3 lines, or 5 if you leave the unloading point (2) empty. | — | — |
| 2 | Unloading point | Abladestelle - Lagerort - Verwendungsschlüssel | Unloading point, storage location or usage code at the receiving plant. | — | — |
| 3 | Delivery note number | Lieferschein-Nr | Your delivery note number; it must match the EDI data you send. Optional for mixed loads. | Code 39 (DI N) | 8 |
| 4 | Supplier address | Lieferantenanschrift (Kurzname, Werk, PLZ, Ort) | Your short address: short name, plant, postcode, town. | — | — |
| 5 | Net weight | Gewicht netto | Net weight in kg; the template accepts digits only. | — | — |
| 6 | Gross weight | Gewicht brutto | Gross weight of the load carrier in kg; digits only. | — | — |
| 7 | Number of packages | Anzahl Packstücke | Number of packages delivered; digits only. | — | — |
| 8 | Customer part number | Sach-Nr Kunde | Your customer's part number, printed large across the tag. Left empty for mixed loads. | Code 39 (DI P) | 22 |
| — | Safety-part sign | Zeichen für Sicherheitsteile (1=ja / 0=nein) | 1 prints a circle with a triangle in field 8 to mark a safety-relevant part; 0 prints nothing. | — | — |
| 9 | Quantity | Füllmenge | Number of parts in the package, with a unit (Einheit) such as ST. | Code 39 (DI Q) | 7 (unit 3) |
| 10 | Description | Bezeichnung Lieferung, Leistung | Short description of the part or delivery. | — | — |
| 11 | Supplier part number | Sach-Nr. Lieferant | Your own part number, or instead the customer's packaging number (Packmittel-Nr. Kunde) or a production number (Produktions-Nr.); the caption names the one used. Above 10 characters there is no barcode, and a hazard code (Gefahrencode) replaces the barcode. | Code 39 (DI 30S, B or 20S) | 10 |
| 12 | Supplier number | Lieferanten-Nr | Number that identifies you as the supplier. | Code 39 (DI V) | 9 |
| 13 | Date | Datum | Date with a letter for its type, as in the sample D 910226. The template does not check the format; Hatz's 2019 Werknorm, for example, asks for P (production) or D (dispatch) plus YY.MM.DD. | — | — |
| 14 | Engineering change level | Änderungsstand Konstruktion | Design or drawing revision of the part; text only in TEC-IT's template. | — | — |
| 15 | Package number | Packstück-Nr | Number you assign to the package; the label type sets its DI. SEG Automotive's 2018 manual wants it unique within a year. | Code 39 (DI S, M or G) | 9 |
| 16 | Batch number | Chargen-Nr | Batch or lot number of the parts, where your customer asks for it. | Code 39 (DI H) | 10 |
| 17 | Supplier address (footer) | Lieferantenanschrift (Fußzeile) | Your full address in the footer line. | — | — |
All VDA 4902 templates
Seven templates in German, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, all with the version 4 layout and Code 39 barcodes. Translations change the captions, not the fields or data identifiers.
| Template | Size | Use | Open in the generator |
|---|---|---|---|
| VDA 4902 V4 (Deutsch) | A5, landscape | German captions and all 17 fields, with load type (single, multi, mixed) and the safety-part sign. | Open in the generator › |
| VDA 4902 V4 (Deutsch) - KLT | 210 × 74 mm, landscape | German tag for small load carriers (KLT): fields 1–3 and 8–16, bars 6 mm high. | Open in the generator › |
| VDA 4902 V4 (Deutsch) - Stahl-Lieferungen | A5, landscape | For steel deliveries: dimension and supplier data fields, package number without barcode, optional order number in field 3. | Open in the generator › |
| VDA 4902 V4 (English) | A5, landscape | English captions (Receiver, Advice Note No, Part No) on the full A5 tag; same fields and barcodes. | Open in the generator › |
| VDA 4902 V4 (Français) | A5, landscape | French captions (Destinataire, Bon de Livraison) on the full A5 tag; mixed loads print UNITE MIXTE. | Open in the generator › |
| VDA 4902 V4 (Español) | A5, landscape | Spanish captions (Receptor, No de Documento) on the full A5 tag, with the same Code 39 barcodes. | Open in the generator › |
| VDA 4902 V4 (Português) | A5, landscape | Portuguese captions (Destinatario da Mercadoria, Nota de Entrega No) on the full A5 tag; mixed loads print REMESSA MISTA. | Open in the generator › |
Frequently asked questions
Learn more about VDA 4902.
Is VDA 4902 still valid?
What size is a VDA 4902 label?
Which barcode does a VDA 4902 label use?
Can I print the VDA 4902 label in English?
Where does the data for a VDA 4902 tag come from?
Where do I attach the VDA 4902 tag?
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