Serial number, distribution code, made in

ZZ from http://www.badmintonguy.com

When I answer my customer’s emails, there is one type of questions that I receive all the time. It is about where the racket is made in, and why I claim that they are made in Japan, but the serial number ends with TH.

Let’s take a look at the serial number of a Yonex badminton racket. There are 2 parts of it. One is on the shaft. Another is on the cone of the handle. It looks something like 2752123 070275TH. The first part (2752123) is the actual serial number which is unique per racket, increased with each manufactured racket. The second part is the date code which is encoded the information about the date the racket is manufactured. The date code follow DDMMYxCC pattern where DD is the date, MM is the month, Y is the year after 2000, x is some arbitrary number, and CC is the distribution code.

Now, let’s move on to the next topic, which is the distribution code. It is the code of the country in which the racket is intended to be distributed in. For example, TH means the racket is intended to be sold in Thailand. This has effect on, for one thing, the term of the warranty of the racket. The Yonex of that country is the one who will honor the term of the warranty.The most important of all, this distribution code is not where the racket is made in.

Hopefully, this can clarify things up a bit.