Covestro expands Specialty Films Technical Competence Center in Shanghai to accelerate smart surface innovation
18 March 2026: 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.
About Covestro ….
Covestro is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of high-quality polymer materials and their components. With its innovative products, processes and methods, the company helps enhance sustainability and the quality of life in many areas. Covestro supplies customers around the world in key industries such as mobility, building and living, as well as the electrical and electronics sector. In addition, polymers from Covestro are also used in sectors such as sports and leisure, telecommunications and health, as well as in the chemical industry itself. Covestro aims to achieve climate neutrality for its Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2035, and the Group’s Scope 3 emissions are also set to be climate neutral by 2050. Covestro generated sales of EUR 12.9 billion in fiscal year 2025. At the end of 2025, the company had 46 production sites worldwide and employed approximately 17,600 people (calculated as full-time equivalents).
www.covestro.com
