Todays laser marking equipment for packaging is reliable and affordable. Laser markers do not require ink or foil. They do require some safety precaution, because a laser beam can cause skin burns or serious eye damage if pointed in the wrong direction.

The most common laser used for marking is the CO₂ laser. Its beam is invisible to the naked eye. The required laser power depends on the marking speed required and the type of material that will be marked. Power levels are in the 10 - 50 watt range. The typical 2-line date and manufacturing code on plastic can easily be done with a C0₂ laser.

One advantage of laser marking over ink jet is the fine resolution of the marking. In the laser head, a set of mirrors is driven by computer signals to deflect the beam at tremendous speed to form the desired marking. Because of the fine resolution, the letter height with some models can be as small as 0.05 inch. The maximum height with most models is around 2 inches.

The other marking parameters are the print area and the print speed expressed as inches per minute and the number of lines that can be printed.

The laser head is a long, narrow tube which is either air or water cooled. Typical dimensions are 4 x 4 x 12 in with the 4 x 4 in surface facing the item to be marked. The controls for the laser are the type of signal which can be RS232, Ethernet, or one of the recent Microsoft data bases, plus the laser controller which receives and translates these signals. Most controller and laser enclosures are made for industrial environment and meet NEMA 4 standard.