In Europe, laser technologies are widely used by the largest car manufacturers: BMV, Renault, Audi, Mercedes, Volkswagen. Laser technologies in the automotive industry are used in welding clutch parts, gears, body parts, mufflers, fuel tank, welding and cutting panels, cutting and marking interior parts, marking codes, etc. The use of laser welding in the automotive industry provides increased productivity, reduced labor intensity and cost of work (up to 3 times), reducing the cost of straightening, increasing the service life of welded joints, increasing the corrosion resistance and service life of the car, increasing the rigidity and strength of the joints, allows you to change their design, eliminates the need for mechanical processing after welding. Laser welding of car parts allows, while reducing their weight by 1%, to reduce fuel consumption by 0.6%, which reduces the cost of the car and increases its passive safety.

Laser technologies in aircraft construction allow welding and high-precision cutting of T1, A1 + T1, A1 + steel, T and A1 - alloys, heat-resistant steels, carbon plastics, fiberglass and composite materials, mark parts and assemblies (metals, plastics, ceramics, etc.) ). Laser welding of fuselage panels ensures high productivity: welding speed up to 5 m / min. The minimum thermal effect on the metal reduces welding deformations and reduces the amount of work on straightening by 3-4 times compared with argon-arc welding. Less burnout of alloying additions ensures the mechanical properties of the welded joint metal at the level of 95-97% of the base material. The deep penetration effect allows you to change the design of nodes and joints, reducing weight without losing strength. The new surface quality lowers the aerodynamic drag, which, for example, for the A-380 aircraft, makes it possible to reduce fuel consumption by 750 kg per one transatlantic flight. For the same aircraft, an increase in the service life of welded joints over 25 years of aircraft operation saves 9 million euros.

In shipbuilding, laser technologies (cutting and welding) are widely used in shipyards in Germany, Japan, Korea, USA, Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, providing productivity, quality, savings in straightening after welding, increased accuracy, and reduced labor intensity. Ship sections based on laser-welded flat panels are distinguished by high strength, sound and heat insulation, no need to straighten them after assembly, low weight and low construction height. According to Danish economists, the annual savings due to the introduction of laser cutting and welding in the construction of two ships with a displacement of 50 thousand tons is $ 83 thousand. According to Western European experts, due to the widespread introduction of laser technologies in shipbuilding, the total costs associated with welding work can be reduced by 50%.

Laser and hybrid welding of pipes and pipelines provide more than double productivity (1800 m) per shift (10 hours), compared to manual arc welding and gas shielded welding (540 m and 860 m, respectively), with fewer personnel and equipment ...

In the case of the complex application of automated and robotic laser technologies for cutting parts and welding structures, the total costs for their manufacture are reduced on average 2-3 times compared to traditional technologies.

In the European industry, as a rule, lasers with a power of up to 3-6 kW are used, mainly for cutting and, less often, for welding. For example, laser complexes "TRUMATIC L3050" with a 5 kW laser, "Bystar 3015", "Bystar 4025" provide high-quality cutting of sheet material up to 25 mm thick (for steel), up to 12 mm (for aluminum), pipes and various profile structures. Complexes for cutting with a laser model C 6000-E manufactured by GE Fanuc (Japan), which is the leader in Europe in the use of lasers, has a wide range of applications, for example, it can stably cut structural steel up to 32 mm thick.

For applications in mechanical engineering, diode lasers are very promising, having the highest efficiency of all known laser radiation sources used for material processing.

On the basis of diode lasers, LTCs have been created for welding and heat treatment, including the use of fiber-optic systems for transporting radiation. In particular, the Laserlink company (Germany) produces such lasers with a power of up to 3 kW, and the Rofin Sinar company manufactures diode lasers with a power of 2.5 kW and a total efficiency of> 30%. A compact laser of this type using light guides can be used for small welding, assembly and repair work in shipbuilding, in confined spaces.