The aerospace industry represents 1.5% of total Spanish GDP and 6.8% of Spanish industrial GDP. In 2021, the Spanish aerospace industry turned over €11,594 million and employed over 50,000 people, while investment in R&D constituted 10% of the sector’s revenue, significantly surpassing the national average. Moreover, products launched in the past five years have yielded a return on investment that makes up 45% of total profits for companies. However, despite these high innovation rates, the aerospace industry’s production processes remain significantly less automated than those in other sectors such as, most notably, the automotive industry, followed by electronics, healthcare, and the capital and consumer goods industries. One of the production processes in the aeronautical sector that remains predominantly manual is painting, which represents half of all aircraft surface treatments.
Using manual processes has two major drawbacks: firstly, the difficulty of controlling thickness in the narrow margins required by the sector, and, secondly, the need for highly qualified operators. These two drawbacks lead to increased reprocessing of parts, higher costs, longer processing times, and increased energy and paint consumption. The aeronautical painting process is therefore trapped in a vicious cycle that companies can only break free from through a technological leap greater than that required in other industries. To help take this leap, the DIGIPinta project proposes designing a smart, cutting-edge painting system that controls and monitors wet paint layer thickness through simulation, enabling an innovative process with high efficiency and minimal environmental impact.
Role of CIDETEC in the project:
Within the framework of the DIGIPinta Project, CIDETEC Surface Engineering will use its paint booth and state-of-the-art robot to define critical parameters and processes in painting processes, support research into wet paint layer control techniques, and assist with implementing and verifying painting equipment and monitoring painting systems. Finally, it will support partners in the project’s final phase by validating the new methods and processes in a relevant environment.