Laser welding is a welding process with very high speeds, relatively narrow seams and low energy input. The monitoring of the laser welding process can be carried out in advance (e.g. optical seam tracking), in retardation (e.g. optical or sensory seam control) or in parallel in real time (e.g. back reflex sensors for process light evaluation, light sensors). The process can be integrated into both manual workstations and fully automatic machines.