Storing number '001' ?

Hi,

I need to store numbers which contain '0' as the first digit like '001', '01' .

A little history.  A DNA clone_id is denoted by '894001A01.x1'.  I
need to sort  clone_id, and have broken it down into its meaningful
components:

project:    894
plate:        001
plate row:    A
plate column:     01
read:        x
ver:        1

CREATE TABLE clone_fasta (
project integer NOT NULL,
plate integer NOT NULL,
p_row char(1) NOT NULL,
p_column integer NOT NULL,
read char(1) NOT NULL,
ver integer NOT NULL,
length integer NOT NULL,
seq text NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY (project,plate,p_row,p_column,read,ver)
);

Unfortunately, storing these numbers as integers converts 001 ->1,
which I can't use.

How does one store a number like '001'?

Thanks,
--
Chuck