Covestro has announced the expansion of its Speciality Films Technical Competence Centre (TCC) in Shanghai. The move strengthens the company’s ability to support customers across the Asia Pacific region for a range of applications from smart automotive surfaces to humanoid robots and secure identification documents.
Covestro
Covestro expands its Specialty Films Technology Competence Centre in Shanghai
“Our customers are under pressure to innovate faster in today’s dynamic markets, and product cycles are getting shorter,” said Dr Caroline Wolff, Head of Specialty Films for Asia Pacific at Covestro. “The expanded Shanghai TCC allows us to move beyond supplying materials and become a true development partner. By strengthening our prototyping and simulation capabilities locally, we can serve customers across Asia Pacific with greater agility, accelerate development timelines, and advance exciting next-generation applications such as smart automotive surfaces and humanoid robots.”
The Film Insert Moulding (FIM) capabilities have been upgraded, with the technology enabling the one-step fabrication of plastic components with a decorated or functional surface. This creates smart surfaces like automotive exteriors and interiors with built-in functionalities such as lighting, heating, and controls. The new equipment includes a larger screen printer. This allows the team to prototype larger components (e.g., automotive front grilles), where sensors and display elements can be integrated into the exterior surfaces.
The upgraded facility offers integrated FIM support, from selecting suitable resins and films to screen printing, forming, trimming, and final moulding. Flexible tooling systems minimise prototyping costs and shorten development cycles. While design feasibility simulation ensures early validation of concepts before full production.
The expansion also includes specialised equipment for Flexible Printed Electronics (FPE). There is also a dedicated screen printer designed for conductive inks, ensuring precise control during circuit printing, while a new thermal forming machine allows for the testing of circuit performance when shaped into complex 3D forms.
“Expanding the Speciality Films facility shows our commitment to building world-class innovation capabilities closer to customers in Asia Pacific,” concluded Dr Guo Ruijing, Head of Group Innovation and Sustainability Asia Pacific, and Head of the Asia-Pacific Innovation Centre, Covestro. “It will also foster closer collaboration across our businesses and functions within the Innovation Centre.”