In the case of aluminium alloys the surface preparation step for adhesive bonding is an established process in industry which still causes problems when integrated in serial production. Therefore, a group of industrial companies and university institutes worked on a pretreatment especially for aluminium, which is Nd:YAG laser based and which avoids disadvantages of the existing methods. The results show that it is possible to create a surface which achieves good bonding performance and aging-resistant aluminium joints. The newly developed laser pretreatment and adhesive application stylus makes possible the implementation of serial production.