Pilot Plant of CIM UPC
The entity once again contributes its know-how in R&D&I, as a leader in 3D Printing in the Automotive sector, significantly reducing storage costs, with substantial savings in the environmental impact of part manufacturing.
Barcelona, July 14, 2025 — The Fundació Centre CIM, also known as CIM UPC, an entity belonging to the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC), is successfully developing a new collaborative R&D&I project for SEAT S.A., specifically for spare parts supply, within its research line in metal 3D printing.
The SPAR3D project addresses the current challenge of spare parts storage, posed by the Royal Decree-Law 7/2021, which requires Automotive sector manufacturers to ensure the availability of spare parts for their products for 10 years. Storing spare parts has resulted in huge expenses for manufacturers, along with considerable increases in costs, also in logistics (mainly for manufacturers with extensive catalogues), technical service, or telephone support.
The solution provided by CIM UPC explores, together with other research centers and companies, the problem in non-critical parts, with the goal of achieving significant benefits in logistical simplification and improved customer service for the automotive company, as well as notable savings in environmental impact. To this end, the research focuses on additive manufacturing or 3D printing, a technology in which CIM UPC is a pioneer and has recently strengthened in everything related to the new great challenge: printing in metal.
The SPAR3D project (CPP2022-009865) is funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/ PRTR, and in the consortium led by SEAT S.A., CIM UPC has taken responsibility for technologies linked to extrusion additive manufacturing (the most competitive in industrial environments), as well as for recent technologies developed in Spain around the concept of melting metallic filament with laser. They have even explored the creation of 3D printed molds quickly and for single use to obtain spare parts in already approved materials, an avenue that could have a major impact in the future.
As in most projects carried out by CIM UPC, research with a vision for useful industrial end results has represented a before and after in spare parts supply and has once again granted the foundation excellence in results and a leading position in the latest technological advances.
ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, THE LEVER FOR INDUSTRIALIZATION
For José Mª Cabrera, PhD, General Director of CIM UPC, “Additive Manufacturing is today the lever for industrialization in the Metal world. We are currently in the Knowledge stage, but it is a technology that is here to stay because it offers great added value for short series. This technology is available and economically accessible also for SMEs. Companies will need to raise their technological level, but they must not arrive late.” “In the Automotive sector,” he continues, “our aim is to offer, above all, those advantages and benefits demanded by our client companies, among which cost savings always stands out, through our latest technology, which is also that of the Sector.”
MORE THAN 14 PROJECTS PER YEAR AND A TEAM OF 15 PEOPLE DEDICATED TO RESEARCH
CIM UPC develops collaborative R&D&I projects through competitive research support frameworks, both nationally and internationally. As such, CIM UPC plays an active role in European, national, and regional research programs and clusters as a means to achieve excellence and stay at the forefront of technological advancements.
The entity focuses its basic and applied research activities (up to TRLs that make the creation of a start-up feasible) and development on production and ICT technologies. Its specialists enable integral project approaches, developing new manufacturing processes and product designs, thus facilitating access to industrial research environments.
The main lines of research are:
- Metal 3D Printing: research and development of new materials, new metal 3D printing processes, and new procedures for characterization and validation of printed components.
- 3D Printing for Health: services including the manufacture of pre-surgical models and prosthesis printing, 3D bioprinting of tissues, and the design and development of customized 3D printing machinery.
- Concrete 3D Printing: developing new techniques and large-scale 3D printing processes for ceramic materials to construct buildings or prefabricated housing.
- Hybrid 3D Printing: developing equipment that combines technologies of different natures, enabling production processes never before applied, such as multimaterial extrusion, allowing a wide variety of additive manufacturing technologies to be combined.
Currently, a total of 40 people are part of CIM UPC’s staff, with 15 employees dedicated to the R&D&I area and forecasts to double this area by 2026. Its more than 14 annual projects with companies, growing for this 2025, are part of its 3–4 year Strategic Plan, which also foresees doubling its turnover.
ABOUT CIM UPC
Leading in 3D printing, CIM UPC’s mission is to transfer engineering and technology management knowledge, as well as to provide companies and professionals with tools to create and improve their products and manufacturing processes. Committed to society and industry, CIM UPC serves its environment by advancing digital manufacturing and production technologies through training, technology transfer, and research. In doing so, it brings the business reality closer to the university and helps the industrial fabric achieve maximum technological competitiveness.
Since its inception, CIM UPC has been characterized by the versatility of its activities. Some of the most relevant include:
- Pilot Plant, with a production service for tailor-made prototypes and pre-series manufactured through 3D printing and advanced machining, as well as different laboratories for various tests with innovative Direct Ink Writing printers and other technologies for industrial projects, especially for producing metal parts
- Design and production of customized Advanced Manufacturing equipment, enabling new production processes based on 3D printing.
- Open innovation. National and international research projects, individual or collaborative (such as those by the XaRFA network – the Catalonia Reference Network in Additive Manufacturing) and European projects with international partners.
- Design, manufacture, and sale of desktop 3D printers for professionals and companies (different models derived from its spin-offs BCN3D and ARIDDITIVE).
CIM UPC was founded in 1990 and became a foundation of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC) in 2005. Since then, and now celebrating its 35th Anniversary, the entity also collaborates with other technological and/or university research centers and leads the aforementioned XaRFA network, focused on advanced manufacturing. Finally, it develops innovative technological proposals and strengthens applied research infrastructures to carry out projects in various technological fields.
Automotive Spare Parts – Fused Granulate Fabrication (FGF)