10 minutes away From Barcelona airport, 15 minutes from the city center and five hours from the port, stands a four-story, 17,000 square meter building that brings together large companies, startupsinnovation centers and laboratories that are part of the fourth industrial revolution or industry 4.0. This is DFactory Barcelona, the intelligent manufacturing technological ecosystem of international reference promoted by the Barcelona Free Zone Consortium (CZFB).
Digitalization affects all vital and professional areas, and industry cannot be left behind. Industry 4.0 This means smart manufacturing, realizing the digital transformation of the sector, real-time decision-making and greater productivity, flexibility and agility to revolutionize the way companies make, improve and distribute their products.
DFactory is “a meeting place for the most avant-garde technology companies, where we will promote activities in robotics, sensors, 3D printing, blockchain, artificial intelligence or internet of things,” explained Blanca Sorigué Borrell, general director of CZFB , —principles 2022—in an interview. A space in which “collaboration with other organizations will be encouraged, in order to accelerate the technological ecosystem,” he added.
Since then, the property designed by studio TurullSørensen Arquitectos in collaboration with PGI-Torrella, which occupies the land of the former Seat factory, has become an ecosystem that facilitates the digital transformation of European industry. A building inspired by local industrial tradition that promotes the relationship between people and machines, as a reflection of the new industry, and promotes the union of technological companies that provide digital solutions with companies in transformation process that seek solutions innovative.
Technological ecosystem
DFactory is now home to 35 national and international companies, dedicated to 3D printing and scanning, robotics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, sensors, Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality or photonics.
One of the first to trust and set foot in the hub was Asorcad, a company located in Parets del Vallès (Barcelona), which offers 3D products – 3D scanners, 3D software and quality control automation equipment – as well as 3D services: 3D scanning and reverse engineering, to 3D metrology, CAD/3D CAD. CAM design, advice and training. Its experience and technologies are responsible for parts for Renfe trains, personalized gloves for Paralympic athlete Jordi Madera, the digitization of a Pablo Gargallo sculpture to facilitate its restoration or 3D surgical guides to guide surgeons in the precision cuts and incisions.
“We don’t have a size limit, but we feel very comfortable between the dimensions of a mouse and those of a train car. In this range we are a few cracks“, says Antonio Sánchez, Managing Director and Founding Partner of Asorcad.
Its fields of activity are also diverse: industrial maintenance, the automotive, nautical and aeronautical sectors, orthopedics, medicine, catering, architecture and even cinema. “We take care of the scanning of the film tree A monster comes to see medirected by José Antonio Bayona,” remembers Sánchez. Also the metrology of four teams out of the six that participated in the recent edition of the Copa de la América in Barcelona.
The possibilities of 3D printing
Since 2006, many 3D printer patents that appeared in the 1980s have expired. These technologies have become public domain, which has given rise to a boom proposals that moved from the professional sphere to the domestic sphere: anyone with a 3D printer could create the shapes and objects they wanted. Soon, reality took over and small-scale self-production became the hobby of a few, while professional technologies gradually penetrated industrial production systems. “Today, 3D printers are common in the manufacture of automotive tools, orthopedic products – almost 50% of parts –, high-pressure cleaners and many other objects and parts,” says the director of Asorcad. “The rise of 3D printing 10 years ago allowed us to learn,” he adds.
Founded in 2005, the knowledge and experience gained has shaped the company into a specialist in advanced engineering services. “Cooperating to be more competitive is our motto,” explains Antonio Sánchez, which sums up why the company established an office at DFactory. “Here we are alongside leading technology companies and friction makes love,” he says. It is a space to hold meetings, disseminate information and gain visibility. “The promotion that DFactory does for us is not paid for by fees; We have visibility that is intangible. And being famous never hurts.
