Located in the heart of SEAT's Martorell production plant, the Prototypes Centre of Development is the physical embodiment of a concept within the Volkswagen Group aiming at major advances in innovation within development processes.

Under management of the Vice-Presidencies for Research & Development and Production, the Prototypes and Pilot Workshop departments have joined forces to create the new Prototypes Centre of Development (PCD).

Thus the new Prototypes Centre of Development brings together activities related to the initial stages of design and development of new models, both virtual and physical, together with issues of feasibility, productivity, problem analysis and a proactive pre-emptive approach to problem-solving in production processes.

The new Centre is designed to use shared resources and harness resulting synergies between both departments in order to shorten development time as well as improve communication regarding new models between Research and Development (R&D) and Production, the ultimate aim being to achieve greater efficiency in the processes of building new virtual and physical prototypes, thus shortening time between new better-quality launches.

The Prototypes Centre of Development is one of SEAT's flagship projects.

Since its original conception on July 1st 2005 to the actual official opening on July 16th 2007, it has brought together know-how, personnel and resources from SEAT's Prototypes department at its Technical Centre and the Pilot Processes Engineering Workshop in Martorell under a single roof.

Seamless cooperation, greater synergies, coupled with an increase in the flow of information during development and industrialisation stages are just some of the major advantages deriving from shared organisation and space.

And confidentiality is always guaranteed - it is now normal to put a new prototype through the assembly line so as to analyse model feasibility during the early stages of development.

Some of the aims of the different PCD areas are securing and simulating processes beginning with the first prototype, cost and investment containment, eliminating intersections between R&D and Production, and pro-active problem-solving using feedback from standard production series.

One of the tools used is "Applied Virtual Ergonomy", a new application from the MAVE project (Spanish initials for 'Ergonomic Virtual Analysis Mock-up'), used to simulate assembly operations without the need for physical vehicles or facilities so as to analyse operator fatigue during routine tasks.

This application tool has been distinguished with the "Prize for best technological innovations in sector" awarded jointly by the Catalan government (Generalitat) and the Automotive Technical Association (STA) during the Barcelona International Motor Show.

The PCD facilities cover a floor area of 16,850 square metres.

The areas of Management, Virtual Reality, Models, Presses, Bodywork, Logistics, Assembly, Measurements and Quality are staffed by some 300 highly-qualified professionals working on the diverse processes mentioned with a clear commitment to continuous improvement.

The Prototypes Centre of Development brings together personnel from very diverse company areas, encouraging opinions and suggestions which provide a pro-active pre-emptive approach to problems, thus improving costs and shortening construction
time for prototypes and pre-production vehicles.

The PCD's remit covers all processes involving data control model creation, prototypes and pre-production vehicles.

The PCD is also involved in other activities including geometry assurance, ease-of-assembly for production vehicles, analysis and improvement of production, digitisation of manufacturing processes and virtual ergonomy.

Data highlights

• Total floor area: 16,850 m2
• Employees: 300
• Activities:
• Virtual Prototypes
• Data control models
• Production of prototype parts and resources
• Construction of prototypes and pre-production vehicles
• Analysis and production series optimisation

(Source: SEAT)