+90 3D Digital Factory, based in Istanbul, provides industrial additive manufacturing services alongside conventional production methods. Since its founding in 2005, the company has expanded its capabilities to support both prototyping and end-use part production across a range of sectors that require precise and repeatable results.
The company’s additive manufacturing portfolio spans multiple technologies, including fused deposition modeling (FDM), selective laser sintering (SLS), multi-jet fusion (MJF), stereolithography (SLA), selective absorption fusion (SAF), PolyJet, and metal laser sintering. These platforms accommodate polymers and metals, enabling users to choose processes and materials that align with mechanical requirements and production volumes.
In addition to printing, +90 offers 3D scanning and reverse engineering services that convert physical components into digital models. These models can be used for design refinement, inspection, or integration into CAD-based workflows.
To serve a broader set of applications, the company also integrates traditional manufacturing methods such as CNC machining, injection molding, and vacuum casting with additive processes. This hybrid approach allows customers to address challenges such as surface finish, dimensional accuracy, and functional performance within a single project scope.
By combining digital workflows with diverse fabrication options, +90 3D Digital Factory supports engineering teams seeking to move beyond prototyping and toward repeatable, production-ready components.
Interview with Burak S. Pekcan
In an interview with 3Druck.com, Managing Director Burak S. Pekcan discusses how additive manufacturing is gaining acceptance in Türkiye as a production technology rather than a prototyping tool, and how customer expectations, qualification requirements, and material performance are evolving across industries. He also outlines the challenges service providers face and shares his perspective on where industrial 3D printing is headed in the coming years.
From your perspective, how has demand in the Turkish market for FDM-printed functional parts evolved in recent years—especially in terms of functionality, mechanical performance, and repeatability?
Managing Director Burak S. Pekcan
Over the past few years, demand for FDM-printed functional parts in Türkiye has accelerated significantly as the technology has moved beyond prototyping into production-critical use cases. The automotive, aerospace, and defense industries, in particular, now rely on FDM for fixtures, assembly tools, and selected end-use components where speed, flexibility, and cost efficiency are essential.
What has changed most is confidence. Advances in design software, simulation, and industrial-grade materials have elevated functionality, mechanical performance, and repeatability to a level that meets real production expectations. In automotive, customization and agile manufacturing are key drivers, while in aerospace and defense, FDM is increasingly trusted for certified operational parts.
Today, FDM is no longer viewed as an experimental solution. It has become a strategic production technology in Türkiye’s industrial ecosystem.
In your day-to-day work as a professional additive manufacturing service provider, what are the central challenges you face, and what typical problems or misconceptions do you see among your industrial customers?
One of our primary challenges at +90 3D Digital Factory is the fragmented understanding of additive manufacturing across industries. We serve organizations at different levels of technical maturity, which directly influences expectations and decision-making.
In regulated sectors such as defense, projects are driven by material compliance, mechanical validation, documentation, and certification. Engineering discipline is high, and performance is non-negotiable. In contrast, in sectors like consumer appliances, additive manufacturing is often evaluated primarily from a cost and lead-time perspective.
A common misconception is treating additive manufacturing solely as a rapid prototyping tool rather than a scalable production enabler. Additionally, high system costs and outdated assumptions about functional performance can distort expectations.
This places a responsibility on service providers to act as strategic partners—educating the market, guiding application selection, and ensuring that technology is applied where it delivers measurable business value.
Looking at the last few years, which technological or material developments in additive manufacturing—across processes such as FDM, PolyJet, SLS, SAF, SLA, MJF, or metal printing—have been most important for +90 3D Digital Factory and for the industry overall, and why?
The most impactful developments in recent years have been the maturation of polymer powder-bed technologies—such as SLS, MJF, and SAF—and the evolution of industrial FDM solutions. These platforms now offer the surface quality, consistency, and cost structure required for low-to-medium-volume production, not just prototyping.
In metal additive manufacturing, the reliable processing of materials such as 316L stainless steel, titanium, Inconel, and copper has been a major turning point. Design for Additive Manufacturing, combined with topology optimization, lattice structures, and part consolidation, enables lighter, stronger, and more efficient components—particularly valuable in aerospace and defense.
Equally critical has been the advancement of qualification, testing, and certification frameworks aligned with additive manufacturing. These developments have accelerated industrial trust and adoption.
Collectively, they signal that additive manufacturing has reached strategic maturity as an industrial production technology.
How do you expect additive manufacturing to develop over the next five to ten years—both technologically (processes, materials, software) and in terms of applications, business models, and its interaction with conventional manufacturing methods like injection molding, vacuum casting, and CNC machining?
Over the next decade, additive manufacturing will evolve from a complementary technology into a strategic production infrastructure embedded within digital manufacturing ecosystems. The focus will move beyond machines and materials toward intelligence: data-driven process control, AI-assisted design and build optimization, and fully traceable digital threads connecting design, production, and quality. These developments will make additive manufacturing predictable, certifiable, and scalable.
Applications will expand where complexity, customization, and speed define value—such as localized production, functional end-use parts, and agile supply chains. Rather than replacing conventional methods, additive manufacturing will redefine how they are used, working alongside injection molding, CNC machining, and casting in hybrid, lifecycle-optimized workflows. The most successful service providers will not be those who simply print parts, but those who orchestrate technologies, materials, and processes to deliver resilient, future-ready manufacturing solutions.
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