Marking in the aerospace industry

Why the need for marking in the aerospace sector?

For all industries particularly for the aerospace and aeronautics sectors, industrial marking ensures traceability, control and quality.All components must be marked to allow for unitary and permanent identification of the component itself. This allows it to be traced from the moment of production to its final destination, as well as being essential in order to provide quality assurance and documentation. As in other industries (such as medical) but more specifically in avionics and aerospace, all surfaces must be marked without damaging or altering the characteristics of the material or its composition. Therefore, marking must be done in a way that has no structural impact on the part.

Aircraft marking must follow many international marking standards, including:

Aircraft Industry Specifications (ATA, A4A) 2000
UID standard of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)
SAE AS913 International Marking Standard
AIM-DPM (Automatic Identification & Mobility Association Standard
ISO/IEC TR 291
Rolls-Royce Standards JES131 and RRES9000

Marking is essential to know everything about a component-who made it, where, when, how, all the information about its history of use. If there is a problem, inspectors must be able to have all the information and solve the problem related to that part as soon as possible. It's for our safety when we travel by air.

So how can we mark aircraft and aircraft parts?

Lasers, dot markers, beat machines, roll markers, smear markers, hot systems, and electrolytic systems are the most widely used technologies to permanently mark and track the thousands of aircraft parts manufactured each year and to encode and record information such as serial numbers, lot numbers, production date, overhauls, and repair operations.

Automator has been designing, manufacturing and selling industrial marking equipment worldwide since 1940. It is the only international company that provides all marking technologies for all industrial processes. Special applications for the aerospace segment have been specially developed to provide manufacturers with the highest technology and quality, helping to meet all agency requirements and international regulations.

Automator provides solutions to:

respect the structure and surfaces of materials
mark all types of flat, cylindrical or round surfaces
realize automation or integration with production lines
mark alphanumeric codes, datamatrix, QR and logos
mini or micro marking
defense against counterfeiting
verification and reading of part numbers (in multiple industry-standard formats)

Automator offers a wide range of products for marking avionics and aerospace parts/materials:

6 models of dot markers (depending on marking areas, material type and application)
11 different lasers (depending on material type and/or marking results)
2 smear models (depending on marking areas and material type)
9 beat machines (depending on pressure and type of marking/material)
8 roller marking machines (depending on material, circumferences, size, and desired results)
2 electrolyte solutions
solutions for integration with material handling and components such as PLCs or production lines
custom solutions for special projects
reading and tracking systems

Marking in the aerospace industry

Automator Marking Systems S.r.l.