10 minutes away From the Barcelona airport, 15 from the city center and five from the port stands a four-story, 17,000-square-meter building that brings together large business corporations, startupsinnovation centers and laboratories that are part of the fourth industrial revolution or industry 4.0. It is about DFactory Barcelonathe intelligent manufacturing technological ecosystem of international reference promoted by the Barcelona Free Trade Zone Consortium (CZFB).
Digitalization crosses all vital and professional areas, and the industry could not be left behind. Industry 4.0 It means smart manufacturing, materializing the digital transformation of the sector, real-time decision making and greater productivity, flexibility and agility to revolutionize the way companies manufacture, improve and distribute their products.
DFactory is “a meeting place for the most cutting-edge technology companies, where we will promote activities in robotics, sensors, 3D printing, blockchain, artificial intelligence or the internet of things,” explained Blanca Sorigué Borrell, general director of the CZFB, —principles 2022—in an interview. A space in which “collaboration with other organizations will be encouraged, so that we accelerate the technological ecosystem,” he added.
Since then, the property designed by the TurullSørensen Arquitectos studio 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 fosters the relationship between people and machines, as a reflection of the new industry, and promotes the union of technology companies that provide digital solutions with companies in the process of transformation that seek innovative solutions.
Technological ecosystem
DFactory currently houses 35 national and international companies, dedicated to 3D printing and scanning, robotics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, sensors, the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality or photonics.
One of the first to trust and set foot in the hub was Asorcada 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: from 3D scanning and reverse engineering, to 3D metrology, 3D CAD/CAM design, consulting and training. Its experience and technologies are responsible for parts for Renfe trains, personalized gloves for the Paralympic athlete Jordi Madera, the scanning of a Pablo Gargallo sculpture to facilitate its restoration or 3D surgical guides to guide surgeons in cuts and precision incisions.
“We have no size limits, but we feel very comfortable between the dimensions of a mouse and those of a train car. In this range we are some cracks”says Antonio Sánchez, general director and founding partner of Asorcad.
Its areas of activity are also diverse: industrial maintenance, automotive sector, nautical and aeronautics, orthopedics, medicine, restoration, architecture and even cinema. “We take care of the scanning of the film tree A monster comes to see medirected by José Antonio Bayona,” Sánchez recalls. Also of the metrology of four teams of the six that participated in the recent edition of the Copa de la América in Barcelona.
The possibilities of 3D printing
As of 2006, many patents for 3D printers that appeared in the 1980s expired. These technologies became public domain, which gave rise to a boom of proposals that jumped from the professional to the domestic sphere: anyone with a 3D printer could create the shapes and objects they wanted. Soon reality prevailed and small-scale self-manufacturing became the hobby of a few, while professional technologies little by little penetrated industrial production systems. “Today, 3D printers are common in the manufacturing of car tools, orthopedic products—almost 50% of the parts—, pressure washers and many other objects and parts,” indicates the director of Asorcad. “The rise of 3D printing 10 years ago helped us learn,” he adds.
Founded in 2005, the knowledge and experience acquired have shaped the company, today a specialist in advanced engineering services. “Cooperating to be more competitive is our motto,” says Antonio Sánchez, who thus summarizes why the company established an office in DFactory. “There we are alongside leading technology companies and friction makes love,” he declares. It is a space to hold meetings, disseminate information and obtain visibility. “The promotion that DFactory does for us is not paid for by the fee; We have a visibility that is intangible. And being known never hurts.”
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