Automotive manufacturers and suppliers all need to use a variety of marking technologies to meet government, regulations, industry standards, and OEM requirements. Traceability and part identification are critical to the automotive component manufacturing process as well as for inventory control, supply chain management, as well as warranty and service operations.
Permanent direct part marks and 2D marks are used for serial numbers, part numbers, date codes, and other identifying characteristics. These direct part marks must withstand harsh environments with extremes of temperature, dirt, fluids, coatings, and abrasion.
Indented marks are very common for automotive applications as well as surface laser marks, ink jet printing, and affixed tags and labels.
Depending on the time available, quality specificaitons, and mark type there are a number of options for marking automotive components.