In every industrial process, part traceability is essential. Without knowing where and how a component was manufactured, it’s nearly impossible to perform root cause analysis, manage recalls, or implement quality control. But in manufacturing environments that involve harsh surface treatments—like heat treatment, coating and plating, acid pickling, anodizing, painting, shot peening, sandblasting, galvanization, or cataphoresis—traditional data codes often fail. They become unreadable, distorted, or completely erased, making traceability unreliable.
Cosmodot’s CDOT Code addresses this issue through a fundamentally different approach to data encoding. Instead of relying on black-and-white cell contrast like traditional codes, CDOT encodes data in the frequency domain. It’s a software-only solution that enables durable, high-density identification directly on the part surface—maintaining readability even after exposure to the most extreme industrial processes. The strength of the system lies not just in its physical resilience, but in the way it captures and protects information. Each CDOT is based on a harmonic dot structure that generates a signature across frequency points. During decoding, even if only 3 or 4 of these points remain intact, the system can fully reconstruct the original unique ID.
CDOT Code remains readable on a brake disc after heat treatment, shot blasting, and phosphating; on a crankshaft with a dark forged surface; and on an engine cradle after e-coating—ensuring reliable part traceability despite severe industrial conditions.
This redundancy enables robust performance even when the surface is obstructed by coating, corrosion, damage, or thermal stress. And unlike traditional codes, CDOT doesn’t lose readability when stretched, shrunk, distorted, or partially blocked. CDOT also provides high data capacity on the smallest surfaces. Each 5 mm² CDOT holds more than 10 trillion unique identifiers and up to 520 alphanumeric characters. This makes it possible to store detailed part-specific data directly on the product, enabling a truly data-rich digital identity for manufacturers, as well as functioning on limited or constrained surfaces—such as restricted code areas and curved surfaces—and allowing OEMs to receive more detailed part information directly from their suppliers.
The system is also completely hardware-agnostic and can be applied to all types of materials, including sand, unfired porcelain clay, plastics, rubber, glass, and metals. Manufacturers use CDOT with their existing laser marking equipment and cameras—there’s no need to invest in specialized hardware. Integration is quick, and the software runs on standard industrial PCs, either locally or in the cloud. That flexibility allows companies to adopt CDOT gradually or across multiple facilities without large-scale infrastructure changes. The process begins with marking the code via the existing laser machines located on the manufacturing site, using a vector file sent to the marking hardware. Once applied, industrial scanners or handhelds capture images of the code. These images are transmitted in real time to the decoder running on the industrial PC located on the manufacturing site, which decodes the image and extracts the unique ID. The decoded data is written to a local or cloud-based database and used bidirectionally with PLC data, and can be forwarded to MES systems for integration into broader automation flows. Cosmodot’s system doesn’t stores images.
Cosmodot also supports cloud-native deployments. CDOT decoding can run on virtual machines or in cloud environments using Kubernetes-based architecture. This makes it scalable for manufacturers with distributed production networks and high traceability demands.
The primary outcome of CDOT is full data integrity at the part level. Manufacturers can attach process data directly to each product, making production fully transparent and traceable from start to finish. If a part fails in the field, its exact origin can be traced immediately—down to the production line, process parameters, material batch, machine settings, or the operator who handled it.
CDOT significantly reduces issues like unidentified scrap, misrouting, or undocumented rework. Since every UID is stored with its corresponding process data, deviations or anomalies become much easier to detect and analyze. CDOT has proven especially useful in millions of parts, including those in automobile and light-duty vehicle manufacturing, motor vehicle components, trucks, military armored vehicles, aircraft and space vehicles, batteries, power transformers, household appliances, iron and steel mills, die-casting foundries, iron foundries, forging, and more.
By enabling data permanence on the part itself, CDOT allows factories to treat each component as a self-contained data object—decodable, traceable, and integrated from the beginning of production. This leads to fewer unknowns in quality workflows, better decision-making across operations, and ultimately, smarter, leaner manufacturing.
Supported Readable Processes:
Heat treatment, all coatings and platings, painting, anodizing, acid pickling/treatment, galvanization, cataphoresis (e-coating), phosphating, shot blasting, sandblasting, shot peening, hot metal surfaces (high-temperature readability), pipe drawing, material surface expansion and shrinkage (mechanical or thermal), enameling, firing/furnacing, die casting, sand casting (including mold stage), sand molds, glazing and varnishing, and challenging reading conditions such as low light or narrow angles.
Learn more about the CDOT Code here.
Serra Tuzcuoglu is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cosmodot and the Co-Inventor of the CDOT AI Code, an AI-powered part identification system designed for industrial parts and products. She is also the creator of the CTRACE methodology, which enables live closed-loop traceability across the factory floor. She brings a strong background in product strategy and industrial innovation and holds multiple patents and publications. Her work has advanced traceability in industries such as aerospace, automotive, defense, iron and steel, casting, forging, electronics, and semiconductors by enabling part-level tracking at a scale where conventional 2D codes fall short in data capture. She has expanded Cosmodot’s operations globally, offering manufacturers a transformative tool for resilient part identification and measurable productivity gains in the world’s toughest factory environments.
