Choose your data carrier and identifier before you choose a platform

Model-level identifiers are cheapest and often insufficient: anything requiring batch provenance, repair history, or state-of-health data needs batch- or item-level identity. Batteries push you towards item level; a furniture line may live comfortably at model level.

The decision is expensive to revisit because it is physically printed. When in doubt, choose the finer granularity your marking process can support — you can always publish the same data for every item in a batch.

You should. If the link printed on the product points at a vendor's domain, your ability to change vendors is limited by every unit already in the field. Point the carrier at a domain you control and have it redirect to whatever platform currently publishes the data.

• Own the domain and the redirect table; treat both as long-lived infrastructure, not as a project asset.
• Keep the URL structure boring and stable — an identifier path, not a query string tied to today's platform.
• Serve different audiences from the same link, with public data open and restricted data behind access control.

For as long as the product is in use, plus its end-of-life handling — which for industrial equipment and batteries can be well beyond a normal vendor contract, and beyond most corporate reorganisations. Treat carrier links the way you treat safety documentation retention, and write the obligation down somewhere that outlives the programme team.