Abstract The paper deals with the possibilities of using Data Matrix codes in production engineering. We designed and tested the computationally efficient method for locating the Data Matrix code in the images. The location search procedure consists of identification of candidate regions using image binarization, then joining adjacent points into continuous regions and also examining outer boundaries of the regions. Afterwards we verify the presence of the Finder Pattern (as two perpendicular line segments) and Timing Pattern (as alternating sequence of black and white modules) in these candidate regions. Such procedure is invariant to shift rotation and scale change of Data Matrix codes. The method we have proposed has been verified on a set of real industrial images and compared to other commercial algorithms. We are also convinced that such technique is also suitable for real-time processing and has achieved better results than comparable commercial algorithms.