Obviously, in terms of visual impact, automated plastics-welding operations will never resemble the spark-showered scenes of robotic metal welding. But given the varieties of automation available and the efficiency of the processes, plastics welding offers perhaps even more dramatic automation benefits. In particular, among the many methods for joining plastics, ultrasonic welding and a less tried-and-true method, laser welding, are being tailored for lower-footprint and lower-tooling automation applications.