CIM UPC Prints the Manufacturing of the Future from Barcelona

José María Cabrera, director of CIM UPC. © Anna Badia

The centre, with 45 professionals and a pioneering pilot plant, is a benchmark in 3D printing, combining research, innovation and spin-offs

Anna Badia López (Staff Writer) | You can consult the original publication here

Barcelona, 24 June 2026 – For decades, manufacturing a part meant taking a block of material and removing fragments from it until achieving the desired shape. But what happens when the material is as expensive as titanium, a superalloy or an advanced composite? In these cases, not even the smallest amount of material can be turned into scrap, and this is where 3D printing came into play, enabling the transition from what is known as subtractive manufacturing—the traditional method that removes material—to additive manufacturing, which adds material only where it is needed.

The result is a reduction in material waste, and not only that: 3D printing also makes it possible to create parts with previously impossible geometries, lighter components and complex internal structures. “It offers unprecedented design freedom,” explains José María Cabrera, Director of CIM UPC, a centre that works in 3D printing to stay ahead of the manufacturing of the future.

The centre, part of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), has become one of the leading references in advanced 3D printing in Catalonia, with activities that combine applied research, technology transfer and training. As a technology centre, its objective is not simply to print parts, but rather “to develop the technologies that make it possible to print them,” as Cabrera points out. It does so with a team of 45 professionals and a pilot plant equipped with technologies capable of printing everything from plastics to metals, using techniques ranging from a print head that melts filament to lasers that fuse powder to create new parts. Filled with machines operating at different rhythms, the 3D printers perform a kind of coordinated dance alongside the centre’s researchers and staff, who explore new ways of manufacturing everything that can be imagined.

Cabrera with one of the metal parts printed at CIM UPC. © Anna Badia

However, the centre’s origins do not lie in 3D printing but in computer-integrated manufacturing, which was revolutionising factories when the centre was founded in 1990. Its very name (Computer Integrated Manufacturing, CIM) reflects that period. Once these technologies became established, however, the centre began looking for new horizons. This was when it turned its focus to 3D printing, becoming a benchmark in the field. Today, it aims to grow by 10% annually, both in workforce and turnover (which reached €2.5 million in 2024), while expanding its research lines and projects.

In its roadmap, one element stands out: metal. “We are making a very significant effort in metal 3D printing,” says the director, pointing to challenges such as precisely controlling factors including temperature, robot movement and material deposition to ensure that the final part meets industrial requirements. This commitment is complemented by the incorporation of new elements into the machines, such as sensors and artificial intelligence tools, enabling them to make autonomous decisions during the printing process. “The machines are becoming increasingly intelligent.”

The centre’s ambition also involves exploring territories that remain largely uncharted. Among the lines of research it is pursuing are the printing of amorphous materials, magnetic materials and new formulations that make it possible to manufacture objects with properties that have so far been difficult to achieve. Parts that were once impossible to manufacture are now beginning to become feasible thanks to these technologies. “We are pushing the boundaries.”

Cabrera showing parts printed at CIM UPC, with medical applications. © Anna Badia

This effort to push boundaries does not remain confined to the laboratories and the pilot plant. A significant part of CIM UPC’s work is dedicated to bringing innovation to the market—understood in the broadest sense, ranging from architectural to medical applications, including the reproduction of tumours in 3D to facilitate surgeons’ work before an operation. In fact, with its team of 45 professionals, the centre is financed mainly through the revenue it generates from the market. This is achieved primarily through two channels by which innovation leaves the laboratory: by manufacturing parts commissioned by third parties—whether companies, public administrations or hospitals—and through innovations that acquire their own identity and leave the pilot plant as independent companies.

BCN3D is one such example. The company was created in 2018 from an innovation developed at the centre: an independent dual-extruder system that made it possible to print simultaneously with two materials or manufacture two parts at the same time. The usefulness of this innovation led to its creation as a spin-off of the centre, just as happened more recently with Aridditive and its 3D concrete printing technology. Founded as an independent company in 2023, it applies the same layer-by-layer manufacturing principles used by desktop 3D printers, but on a much larger scale. Where a desktop printer uses plastic, Aridditive uses concrete; and where one works in millimetres, Aridditive works in metres.

One of the machines in CIM UPC’s pilot plant. © Anna Badia

This commitment to supporting innovation is also reflected in its educational and outreach activities, as Cabrera highlights. The centre participates in the development of several Fab Labs, spaces equipped with digital manufacturing technologies that Cabrera describes as “the libraries of the future.” The objective of these laboratories is for students to learn by experimenting, building prototypes and turning ideas into tangible objects, as the centre’s director points out.

However, all of CIM UPC’s work does not take place in isolation. It is embedded within an innovation ecosystem in which additive manufacturing has stood out for years. In fact, the Barcelona metropolitan area has gradually built an increasingly dense ecosystem around additive manufacturing, to the point of becoming one of the leading hubs in southern Europe in this field.

Technology centres, universities, large industrial companies and start-ups coexist within a network that has helped accelerate the adoption of 3D printing beyond research laboratories. This ecosystem includes globally recognised companies such as HP’s centre in Sant Cugat del Vallès and features organisations dedicated to promoting and energising the sector, such as DFactory, managed by the Zona Franca Consortium, and the IAM3DHUB initiative, launched by public and private stakeholders as a 3D printing hub, located precisely at DFactory.

In fact, last September, DFactory hosted the first edition of a summit that brought together additive manufacturing hubs and organisations from across Europe: the Global AM Hubs Summit. During the event, (Add)liance, a new European alliance focused on 3D printing, was launched with the objective of establishing a stable and collaborative international framework to facilitate the adoption of these technologies.

The fact that the alliance was launched from Catalonia helped highlight the growing importance of the Catalan additive manufacturing sector. Although the latest data published by ACCIÓ dates from 2024, it reflects significant growth compared to the previous figures from 2019. In five years, the number of companies linked to 3D printing increased by 32%—to more than 150. Business volume grew even more sharply, by 72% (reaching €560 million in 2024), accompanied by a 58% increase in employment, with the sector providing jobs for more than 2,000 people.

In this context, CIM UPC acts as a driving force. While the printers continue operating in the pilot plant and throughout its facilities, the centre remains focused on a broader objective: it is not simply about manufacturing a part, but about rethinking the way it is manufactured and how ideas take shape. In doing so, the centre aspires to contribute to redesigning the manufacturing of the future from Barcelona, layer by layer.