Covestro expands Specialty Films Technical Competence Center in Shanghai to accelerate smart surface innovation

Covestro has expanded its Specialty Films Technical Competence Center (TCC) in Shanghai, further strengthening its ability to support customers across Asia Pacific in applications ranging from smart automotive surfaces to humanoid robots and secure identification documents.

“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.”

Upgraded equipment with enhanced capabilities

The TCC has upgraded its Film Insert Molding (FIM) capabilities, a technology that enables one-step fabrication of plastic components with a decorated or functional surface. This creates smart surfaces such as automotive exteriors and interiors with built-in functionalities like lighting, heating and controls. The new equipment includes a larger screen printer that can handle polycarbonate films nearly twice the previous size. This allows the team to prototype larger components, such as automotive front grilles, where sensors and display elements can be directly integrated into the exterior surfaces.

The upgraded facility now provides integrated FIM support, from selecting suitable resins and films to screen printing, forming, trimming and final molding. Flexible tooling systems help reduce prototyping costs and shorten development cycles. Design feasibility simulation enables early validation of concepts before full production.

Flexible Printed Electronics for robots 

The expansion also includes specialized equipment for Flexible Printed Electronics (FPE), which are electronic circuits printed on flexible substrates like TPU films that can be used in wearable devices and robots. A dedicated screen printer designed for conductive inks ensures precise control during circuit printing, while a new thermal forming machine allows the team to test how circuits perform when shaped into complex 3D forms. Maintaining electrical performance during forming remains a key challenge in flexible electronics. This supports emerging applications such as tactile sensors in dexterous hands and electronic skin for humanoid robots. The TCC also advises customers on processing conditions and circuit design.

The Specialty Films TCC is part of Covestro’s Asia-Pacific Innovation Center, which brings together R&D capabilities from multiple business units and the central group innovation function, with shared technical and digital infrastructure. “Expanding the Specialty Films facility shows our commitment to building world-class innovation capabilities closer to customers in Asia Pacific,” said Dr. Guo Ruijing, Head of Group Innovation and Sustainability Asia Pacific, and Head of the Asia-Pacific Innovation Center, Covestro. “It will also foster closer collaboration across our businesses and functions within the Innovation Center.”