Today the controller commissioning of industrial used servo drives is usually realized in the frequency domain with the open-loop frequency response. In contrast to that the cascaded system of position loop, velocity loop and current loop, which is standard in industrial motion controllers, is described in literature by using parametric models. Several tuning rules in the time domain are applicable on the basis of these parametric descriptions. In order to benefit from the variety of tuning rules an identification method in the time domain is required. The paper presents a method for the identification of plant parameters in the time domain. The approach is based on the auto relay feedback experiment by Åström/ Hägglund and a modified technique of gradual pole compensation. The paper presents the theoretical description as well as the implementtation as an automatic application in the motion control system SIMOTION. The identification results as well as the achievable performance on a test rig with a PI velocity controller will be presented