Juergen Rapp

Laser with Bosch: a flexible tool in serial production of an automotive supplier

Laser technology in Bosch-production has an already over twenty-five year old tradition and with the advancement of laser beam sources and process engineering always new ranges of application have been found. The advantages of the laser as a tool for material processing lie in the fact that it fulfills the Bosch-specific requirements regarding the product spectrum (small, heat sensitive construction units) and serial production strategies (line manufacturing with high numbers of pieces) by favorable process advantages, like short process times, small energy input and good automizability. The main operational areas of the laser are at present in the product ranges automotive equipment and electronics. Especially in the fuel injection technology manufacturing is hard to imagine without laser material processing. Lasers are used with Bosch in various ways for welding, marking, surface treatment, soldering and drilling. In addition trimming and scribing of semiconductor elements is applied for controllers and sensors. Laser cutting -- with the exception of precision cutting of rotational symmetric parts -- is used only in the manufacturing of prototypes because it is uneconomic in mass production compared to punching and has no technological advantages. Future main areas of development will be microjoining and -ablation, joining of plastics and surface finishing.