For reasons of safety and product liability, the complete traceability of components is an absolute must. An indispensable prerequisite for this is clear, permanently durable and forgery-proof marking or labelling of the components. In addition to lettering and numbers, logos and certification marks, coding, especially data matrix codes, are also used for this purpose.

During their life cycle, vehicle components are exposed to extreme stresses due to heat, cold, mechanical stress, wetness and chemical effects such as road salt. The markings must not be damaged in the process, but must remain intact and legible under all circumstances.

Marking systems for car manufacturers and their suppliers must ensure high-quality results with different materials. This requires different laser processes. At the same time, the marking systems must be robust enough to work reliably in the often harsh manufacturing environments.

In addition, production in the automotive sector is highly efficiently clocked. Marking processes that want to keep up here must be able to integrate into automated production processes and ensure a fast throughput with consistently high quality. A permanent 24/7 availability of the marking systems without downtimes is expected, and this with as little maintenance as possible over as long a service life as possible.

Equally important is a high degree of flexibility when different parts have to be labelled. It should be possible to change over the equipment quickly and without extra effort. The control and operation of the machines should also be as simple as possible so as not to tie up expensive manpower capacities.