Virtual reality slashes production time of prototypes by 30%

Virtual engineering is making a huge impact in the automotive industry, just as it has in the medical, scientific or videogame sectors.

It’s a technology that Spanish carmaker Seat has been using for the last 20 years: “It helps us optimise our production processes and accurately visualise the product we’re going to manufacture,” says Javier Díaz, head of the Seat Prototype Centre. More specifically, the use of this technology has reduced by 30% the production time of prototypes, the stage prior to the launch of a car.

The difference has been substantial. Before, tables measuring more than 10 metres in length to spread out the plans, countless lists of car parts and months of work were needed, but now, thanks to virtual reality, a single computer is all that is necessary to visualise the entire car and make improvements much more quickly.

This technology has cut in half the number of prototypes to build prior to launching a model. The optimization of time and other resources has a positive impact on the customer – not only on the precision and quality of the product but on the final price as well.

A good example is the new Seat Ateca, where the entire process has been followed with virtual reality: “More than three years elapsed since the moment we saw the initial images until the car went on sale. During that time we analysed every centimetre of the car and made numerous decisions to improve it; in particular we implemented more than 800 improvements in the virtual stage,” adds Javier.

Seat is the only company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets cars in Spain. A member of the Volkswagen Group, the multinational has its headquarters in Martorell (Barcelona), exporting more than 80% of its vehicles, and is present in over 75 countries. In 2015, Seat's turnover amounted to over 8.3 billion euros, the highest in its history, and the company achieved worldwide sales of more than 400,000 units for the first time since 2007.

The Seat Group employs more than 14,000 professionals at its three production centres – Barcelona, El Prat de Llobregat and Martorell – where it manufactures the Ibiza and Leon. Additionally, the company produces the Ateca and the Toledo in the Czech Republic, the Alhambra in Portugal and the Mii in Slovakia.