The laser beam welding of galvanized steel sheets in lap joints is an economically highly relevant joining task. Here, the different melting points of the base material (steel) and coating (zinc) lead to a disturbance of the vapor capillary during laser beam welding, resulting in molten bath ejections, flashes and weld spatter. State of the art to avoid these defects is the complex adjustment of degassing gaps, which allow a directed evaporation of the zinc in the intermediate layer. In the past, various approaches have been investigated which have forced the elimination of the degassing gap in order to reduce the costs of the preparatory work. So far, no approach has been able to establish itself in industrial practice, so that laser beam welding is mainly used with a preset degassing gap. Trifocal welding is a new, promising approach for single-stage welding of galvanized sheets in lap joint without preset degassing gap. Welding with molten bath separation has already produced welds without internal and external weld defects in spot tests. Therefore, the overall objective of the project is the systematic analysis of the basic cause-and-effect relationships in the welding of galvanized sheets with multi-bath technology and the development of a laser beam welding process for welding galvanized sheets in lap joint with weld pool separation without preset degassing gap to atmosphere. With the help of the project results, the application spectrum of laser technology is being expanded by an economically highly relevant welding task. Users (OEMs, contract welding companies) can significantly minimize their costs and achieve a reduction in joint weight. This will generate an increased demand for equipment technology (optics, multi-core fibers, etc.), which is demonstrably used by SMEs in the manufacturing industry.