Laser marking job work center get their business from clients that either don't have sufficient parts volume to justify owning a system or simply don't want to own the technology...

Laser marking job work center typically operate at job rates of Rs.250-500 per hour. The cost of marking a part should have nothing to do with the value of the part (unless the shop needs to cover its risk of mismarking and scrapping an expensive part).

Job work center efficiencies have a lot to do with how many parts an hour can be processed by a laser marker. The number of parts processed per hour is determined by how much information has to be marked and how much time is consumed handling the part. Handling consists of removing the part from whatever packaging it arrived in, accurately locating the parts on a fixture under the lens and returning the part to its original packaging after marking.

The actual marking time is generally fast and in many cases the handling time exceeds the marking time. If a marking job shop has a shop rate of Rs.500 per hour and the mark consists of a logo or part number on a credit card sized piece of anodized aluminum and the parts arrive bulk packed (not individually wrapped) then an operator might be able to process 5 parts a minute or 300 parts and hour through the marker. Using a job work  rate of RS.500 per hour, the cost to mark each part would be RS.1.5 and probably be marked up to Rs.2 to actually achieve an RS500 per hour job work rate. There is typically a machine setup charge for each part type and a non recurring graphic charge if a logo or graphic is to be marked or if there is complicated programming. Extensive unpackaging and/or re-packaging is usually an additional charge.