Customer
Karsan
Headquarters
Bursa, Turkey
Industry
Vehicle Manufacturer
Employees
2,400
Karsan is a leading Turkish vehicle manufacturer specializing in transportation 3D printing applications and innovative vehicle design. The company produces buses, minibuses, and commercial vehicles under its own brand, and also supplies parts for major global manufacturers. Karsan is particularly recognized for its focus on electric mobility, having developed the electric vehicles e-JEST, e-ATAK, and e-ATA. These initiatives reflect Karsan’s commitment to advancing vehicle lightweighting and sustainable transportation solutions.
To advance its electric mobility platform, Karsan aimed to replace metal parts with plastic in areas where weight reduction was critical. The team leveraged topology optimization to balance part geometry, structural strength, and minimal mass for optimal performance. Regulatory standards for commercial electric vehicles require strict adherence to weight limits, making vehicle lightweighting a top priority. However, traditional methods like injection molding proved too expensive for low-volume runs of custom vehicle components. Even outsourcing sheet metal production resulted in long lead times and delayed delivery schedules, impacting time-to-market.
To overcome these constraints, Karsan turned to in-house additive manufacturing using the Stratasys F770™. This large-format 3D printer enabled them to produce full-size parts—up to 1,000 x 610 x 610 mm—in a single print. This eliminated assembly steps and provided new freedom in design. Engineers printed the components using ABS thermoplastic, reinforced with SR-30 soluble support, which allowed for complex shapes and internal geometries while maintaining dimensional accuracy. The transition to FDM 3D printing not only supported their production parts for electric vehicles initiative but also provided a scalable and repeatable solution for future development.
Adopting the Stratasys F770 for production delivered major business and engineering benefits. Karsan cut production costs by 80%—from €2500 to €500 per part set—compared to traditional methods. The in-house process shortened production cycles by 3–4 weeks over outsourced sheet metal options. The printed parts were not only lighter, contributing to vehicle compliance with government-mandated weight standards, but also better optimized through iterative design. The team leveraged additive manufacturing to fabricate custom vehicle components in a single build, simplifying installation and reducing labor. These results validate Karsan’s broader initiative to integrate transportation 3D printing into daily operations for faster innovation and more efficient vehicle development.
