A method produces a component, particularly a body component for a vehicle, or a component composite consisting of several components. The steps include forming a metal plate in a forming tool, particularly in a deep-drawing die, producing a reference marking at a predefined location of the metal plate, rough positioning of the formed metal plate by a positioning device such that the reference marking is situated in a predefined space area, identifying the reference marking of a position recognition device, such as a camera system, the position recognition device generating position data corresponding to the position of the reference marking, positioning of a first fixing element at the location of the reference marking based on the position data by an electronically controlled positioning device, and connecting the first fixing element with the formed metal plate, particularly by welding.