# Sonaca España
Airframe supplier Sonaca España is unifying design, engineering and manufacturing on the **3D**EXPERIENCE platform to tackle product complexity and gain digital continuity.
[ Watch the video
3 minutes ](https://youtu.be/SbrwWJyr-Bg)
## The Airframe Supplier Advancing the Future of Air Mobility
From its production hub in Spain, Sonaca España (former Aciturri Aerostructures) delivers aerostructures for some of the world’s most demanding aerospace manufacturing programs including the [Airbus A350](https://www.3ds.com/insights/customer-stories/airbus), Dassault Falcon 10X and Embraer KC-390. The airframe supplier’s world-class reputation hinges on its ability to manage large, complex assemblies, tight tolerances and highly structured validation processes. That expertise now extends to emerging advanced air mobility programs like Vertical Aerospace’s [VX4 – a winged electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft](https://www.3ds.com/insights/customer-stories/vertical-aerospace) – which are both fast-moving and complex. Sonaca España supplies the airframe and structural components for the VX4 and, to keep pace with the program’s demands, manages that work in the **3D**EXPERIENCE platform’s [product lifecycle management (PLM)](https://www.3ds.com/products/enovia/3dexperience) environment. Here, shared data and connected workflows are changing how Sonaca España handles product development and collaborates with its customers.
“Clients including Dassault Aviation and Vertical Aerospace work on the same platform as we, making data transfer between us much faster and far more efficient,” said Carina Kim-Darov, engineering and product systems manager at Sonaca España. “This allows us to save time and avoid losing information when our company needs to work with it.”
[Watch the video: (Sonaca video)](https://youtu.be/SbrwWJyr-Bg)
## Click to read the Sonaca España video transcript
**Sonaca España - Leading the Future of Complex Aerostructures**
**Sergio Gil González, Aeronautical Senior Engineer, Sonaca España**
Sonaca España is a Tier one supplier with nearly 50 years of experience in aeronautical components development, from design to manufacturing. We’re working in civil, military, and space aviation. The main challenges facing our company are the high complexity of our product structures, the need to meet very demanding delivery deadlines, and the requirement to maintain traceability for all products – from the initial design stage to manufacturing – all while striving to improve our productivity and innovation.
**Carina Kim-Darov, Engineering and Product Systems Manager, Sonaca España**
Since **3D**EXPERIENCE is a multidisciplinary platform, it allows collaboration across different departments. Currently, we have around 500 users involving various areas such as design, quality and manufacturing. Our goal is to onboard the entire company onto the platform – representing approximately 2500 users.
**Sergio Gil González**
Our teams are spread across various locations. The platform has been a huge help in unifying our systems. We are developing all our workflows – including document and CAD approvals within the platform. By having a single, definitive source of data means we no longer have to search for information on other computers in different departments. The unique data within the platform is what enables us to achieve that traceability. Consequently, when it comes to demonstrating compliance with requirements and various regulations, we are able to show this using the platform. Another very important factor has been alignment with the sector. Many companies, including large aerospace companies, are already using 3DEXPERIENCE or migrating to the platform.
**Carina Kim-Darov**
For clients such as Dassault Aviation and Vertical Aerospace, data migration and transfer between sites is significantly faster and much more efficient. This allows us to save time, avoid data loss and detect and correct errors – such as collision interference or eBOM errors – during early stages like validation and review, prior to manufacturing, so that they do not cause issues later on.
At the same time, we are evaluating the manufacturing module because we believe the mBOM module will really help plant and development engineering teams save time and, above all, reduce errors. We have managed to industrialize some parts of certain plants within specific projects, simulating the workflow to determine the best way to set them up.
**Sergio Gil González**
The aspect of the platform that contributes to sustainability will be linked primarily to two concepts. We will be able to reduce material waste. Furthermore, simulation capabilities and review processes within the platform will enable faster manufacturing with fewer errors, thereby reducing energy consumption and enhancing sustainability.
**3D**EXPERIENCE is not a solution for the future, but rather for the present, and it’s driving digitalization within the company.
## PLM Implementation Tackles Complex Aircraft Programs
Across Sonaca España’s aerospace manufacturing programs, [complexity shows up in very tangible ways](https://www.3ds.com/industries/aerospace-defense/transform-supply-chain-value-network). The company deals with thousands of part numbers, multiple configurations and engineering teams spread across different sites and disciplines, which must be effectively coordinated to meet tight delivery schedules.
Before the move to the **3D**EXPERIENCE platform, much of that coordination relied on a mix of systems and local practices, and accessing data and aligning teams was often a manual effort.
“The main challenges that our company faces are the high complexity of our product structures, ensuring deliveries against very demanding dates and maintaining traceability across all products,” said Sergio Gil González, aeronautical senior engineer at Sonaca España.
The decision to adopt the [**3D**EXPERIENCE platform](https://www.3ds.com/3dexperience-platform/one-unified-environment) with ENOVIA as its [central PLM environment](https://www.3ds.com/3dexperience-platform/one-unified-environment) was several years in the making. As major OEMs committed to the platform, Sonaca España recognized that alignment would strengthen customer relationships, support closer aerospace supplier management and accelerate programs as engineers would already be fluent in the same environment on both sides.
“Currently, we have around 500 active users on the platform across areas including design, manufacturing and quality,” Kim-Darov said. “Our goal is to onboard the entire company, which is approximately 2,500 users. As **3D**EXPERIENCE is multidisciplinary, it allows different departments from design and engineering through quality to production to collaborate, add information and work on it.”
The **3D**EXPERIENCE platform is the solution that’s driving forward the digital transformation of our company and the wider aerospace industry.
**Sergio Gil González**
Sergio Gil González, Aeronautical Senior Engineer, Sonaca España
## Driving 3DEXPERIENCE Platform Adoption with CT CADTECH
Any major aerospace digital transformation succeeds based on how well the organization adapts around it. At Sonaca España, spreadsheets, local folders and individual practices needed to be migrated to the **3D**EXPERIENCE environment. Gil González led process development and data migration from legacy systems while coordinating training and day-to-day support across the business.
“We have a lot of users in the platform, and we know our success depends on user adoption,” Gil González said. “The technology is user-friendly, but adopting it requires change, which can be a challenge. We tried to make it smoother for all users, so we created groups with key users from each department focusing on their processes, and day-to-day teams to resolve doubts quickly and avoid any problems that could increase delays.”
Throughout the rollout, Sonaca España has worked closely with technology implementation partner CT CADTECH, whose hands-on expertise has been a constant, from the first training sessions to the intensive early weeks of the pilot project. The relationship stretches back two decades and that depth of trust has proved important at critical moments.
“CT CADTECH has been a key partner throughout the process,” Kim-Darov said. “They are very flexible and helpful, and they support us every day. When we started preventive maintenance and needed their help, they did it without hesitation. During the pilot project, which was very demanding in those first weeks, they gave us continuous support.”
CT CADTECH’s role has been to understand the specific pressures Sonaca España faces on the ground and to deliver technology solutions that address them, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach.
“In the end, technology has to add value to the business,” said Montse García, team leader at CT CADTECH Iberica. “Our aim is to help them get the most out of the **3D**EXPERIENCE solutions, so that they can evolve their processes and maintain the level of competitiveness that positions them as a key player in this sector today.”
[Watch the video: (Partner video Sonaca Cadtech)](https://youtu.be/X9Ds1GxrdA0)
## Click to read the Cadtech video transcript
**CT CADTECH - Driving Success with Sonaca España**
**Sergio Gil González, Aeronautical Senior Engineer, Sonaca España**
Within the 3DEXPERIENCE project, Cadtech has been a key partner throughout the entire implementation process. Their extensive knowledge within the platform has allowed us to adapt our processes to the platform and vice versa – the platform to our processes. In terms of training, it also has generated many guides, manuals, and other resources enabling us to channel that knowledge into training sessions with various departments. What has worked best for us is their flexibility.
**Montse García, Team Leader Manager, CT Cadtech Iberica**
Cadtech’s relationship is a long-standing collaboration. However, our role goes beyond merely implementing technology. We aim to work very closely with their teams to understand the challenges they face, enabling us to advise them on the best solution to address those challenges. The idea is for the transformation to be truly end-to-end. In other words, connecting engineering, industrial planning, and production through a single environment. This will allow departments to make better decisions, have greater visibility, and also gain efficiency. This also forces us to maintain higher standards, as every process must be precise, efficient, and scalable to meet the demands of such complex industrial programs. Ultimately, our role is to support them in unlocking the full potential of the 3DEXPERIENCE solution, enabling them to evolve in their processes and maintain the level of competitiveness that positions them as a key player in this sector today.
**Sergio Gil González, Aeronautical Senior Engineer, Sonaca España**
One of the key factors during this implementation project has been the team’s dedication. We should not view that time as time spent, but rather as time invested in the future.
## Streamlining Collaboration in a Complex Design Environment
Sonaca España’s design setup reflects the reality of working with different OEMs, each with their own CAD systems and preferred ways of working. Rather than imposing standardization, the company has integrated its primary design applications within the **3D**EXPERIENCE platform, preserving flexibility while maintaining consistency in how product data is managed and shared.
The result is a much tighter connection between design work and product structure. As soon as a designer uploads their work to the **3D**EXPERIENCE platform, the full product structure is available across the organization, removing a step that previously required manual effort and risked introducing inconsistencies.
“We have improved design using 3D models on the platform, which allows us to detect and correct errors in early stages such as the validation and review phase,” Kim-Darov said. “Because we’re now better at catching these issues before manufacturing, we can avoid things like collision interference and improve the accuracy of the engineering bill of materials (EBOM) and, later, the manufacturing bill of materials (MBOM).”
On programs where Sonaca España has more influence over the design environment, the move toward [CATIA on the **3D**EXPERIENCE platform](https://www.3ds.com/products/catia/3dexperience-catia) is well underway.
“The designer simply works in the CAD environment and we have the entire structure available,” Gil González said. “Working with the EBOM is easy because CATIA provides the information. In projects like the Vertical Aerospace VX4 or Dassault Aviation Falcon 10X, where we used CATIA on the platform, the feedback from designers was fantastic as they found this latest version of the solution much more intuitive.”
[](https://www.3ds.com/assets/invest/2026-09/aciturri-3dx-enovia-catia-image.jpg)
Sonaca España (former Aciturri) has unified design and engineering on Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
## A Single Source of Truth for Aerospace Engineering Data and Compliance Certification
[Managing product data across large, multi-site aerostructure programs](https://www.3ds.com/products/enovia/product-data-management) has historically been one of the toughest engineering data governance challenges. Before moving to the **3D**EXPERIENCE platform, Sonaca España’s engineering teams relied on spreadsheets and shared file systems to track part attributes, manage data versioning and distribute information, which became increasingly difficult to sustain as complexity grew.
“Now, with the **3D**EXPERIENCE platform, we are sure the data is up to date and everyone can access it at the same time,” Gil González said. “And we’re talking about complex structures, some with more than 3,000 part numbers, so it drastically improves how we track everything.”
The move to a single governed data environment has also strengthened Sonaca España’s [audit readiness and ability to meet aerospace certification requirements](https://www.3ds.com/products/enovia/proactive-quality-compliance). This demand is only growing as the company takes on more complex certification-critical work in advanced air mobility. ENOVIA maintains full traceability within the day-to-day flow of engineering work to support aerospace quality management.
“We are developing all the workflows, document and design approval within the platform, so we have traceability from design through to production,” Gil González said. “Using ENOVIA, we can identify issues much earlier. For example, we’ve detected mistakes in documents and the EBOM that we hadn’t caught before, simply by being able to search by part number and work from a single data set. The audits are much easier too, as we can recover all the data and demonstrate that we are complying with requirements and regulations.”
Airframe supplier Sonaca España (former Aciturri) delivers aerostructures and components for the world's largest aerospace programs. The company’s world-class reputation hinges on its ability to manage large, complex assemblies, tight tolerances and highly structured validation processes.
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## Extending the Platform into Manufacturing
As design and engineering workflows become more established on the platform, Sonaca España is now extending into [project management](https://www.3ds.com/store/project-management) and [manufacturing](https://www.3ds.com/products/delmia). DELMIA is already [delivering results across several of the company’s aerostructures plants](https://www.3ds.com/insights/customer-stories/aciturri-aerostructures), supporting the [industrialization of production processes](https://www.3ds.com/products/delmia/manufacturing-operations). The next step is to connect that work more closely to the engineering environment by bringing the [MBOM ](https://www.3ds.com/products/enovia/mbom)onto the platform.
“We believe that this additional connectivity will really help plant engineering and development to reduce time and, above all, errors,” Kim-Darov said.
Tighter integration across design, engineering and manufacturing also supports Sonaca España’s sustainability objectives. Fewer physical prototypes, reduced rework and less wasted raw material from scrapped or rebuilt parts are all direct outcomes of a more connected digital development process. And as advanced air mobility concepts like Vertical Aerospace’s VX4 move towards [eVTOL certification](https://www.3ds.com/cloud/evtol-aircraft-success), that level of control – and connectedness – will help to determine how quickly they reach the market.
“The **3D**EXPERIENCE platform is not the future for us; it is the present,” Gil González said. “It is the solution that’s driving forward the digital transformation of our company and the wider aerospace industry.”
According to Kim-Darov, the progress made so far is a great foundation for everything to come: “The greatest benefit of working on the platform is having a single source of truth – one place where all our data lives and everyone can access it,” she said. “We’ve worked hard to get there and we need to keep working to establish the platform as part of everyone's day-to-day work across the company. That is what will make the difference.”
## Focus on Sonaca España
A family company founded in 1977, Sonaca España (former Aciturri Aerostructures) is one of the main references worldwide in the development and manufacture of aeronautical components. The company specializes in the design, manufacture and assembly of aerostructures – wings, fuselages, empennages, fairings, movable parts. Its customers include the sector’s main manufacturers: Airbus, Airbus Defence and Space, Boeing, Embraer, Deutsche Aircraft, Eve Air Mobility, Calidus, Dassault Aviation, Safran Landing Systems, Safran Aircraft Engines, ITP Aero, and Rolls-Royce. The company has work centers in Spain, Portugal, Brazil, France and Morocco. Aciturri Aerostructures and Belgium-based Sonaca joined forces and became Sonaca España in 2026.
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## Focus on CT CADTECH
CADTECH is part of the CT Group, a leader in engineering and innovation, and an official Dassault Systèmes partner. With more than 35 years of experience, its engineers support industrial companies across the full product lifecycle, delivering engineering services and Industry 4.0 solutions. Specializing in digital engineering and digital twins, CT CADTECH helps organizations implement and optimize Dassault Systèmes technologies to improve CAD, simulation, collaboration, user experience and system integration.
**For more information**:
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