Evonik is expanding its technical capabilities in Shanghai with an upgrade aimed at accelerating innovation for the label and release liner market. At the Evonik Shanghai Innovation Park, the company has moved from a 3-roll coater to an advanced 5-roll UV-curable coating platform, giving its teams and customers a more realistic environment for laboratory testing and application development.

The investment is significant for a packaging segment where performance depends on very precise coating behaviour. Release liners and pressure-sensitive labels must deliver consistent adhesion, clean release, surface stability and reliable converting performance across high-speed production lines. By upgrading its equipment, Evonik can now test formulations under conditions that are closer to those used by industrial customers.

The new platform helps bridge the gap between laboratory development and commercial production, reducing uncertainty during scale-up.

The 5-roll coating system enables more detailed formulation work and process optimisation. Instead of evaluating materials in a simplified laboratory setting, technical teams can reproduce more complex coating conditions, helping customers understand how a release coating may behave before committing to full-scale trials. This is especially valuable in packaging applications where downtime, material waste and process instability can create significant costs.

For label producers, release liner manufacturers and converters, the ability to validate performance earlier in development can shorten project timelines. It also supports the creation of customised solutions, as coating formulations can be adjusted to match specific substrates, curing conditions, line speeds and end-use requirements. In a market that increasingly demands both productivity and sustainability, this type of applied testing capability is becoming a competitive advantage.

A key feature of the upgraded system is its UV/LED inert curing unit. The equipment allows seamless switching between conventional UV curing and LED curing modes, reflecting an important technology shift in the wider coatings and packaging sector. LED curing is gaining attention because it can reduce energy consumption, lower emissions and improve operational efficiency when compared with traditional systems.

This flexibility allows Evonik to support customers that are already moving towards LED curing, while continuing to serve those using established UV processes. It also creates a useful platform for comparing performance, identifying formulation adjustments and developing release coating technologies that can meet future production and regulatory expectations.

The Shanghai upgrade also highlights the growing importance of regional innovation hubs in the global packaging value chain. Asia-Pacific remains a major centre for label and liner production, with strong demand from consumer goods, logistics, healthcare, electronics and e-commerce. By strengthening its local technical infrastructure, Evonik can respond more quickly to market needs while connecting regional projects with its broader global expertise.

Customer collaboration is central to the investment. The enhanced coating line is designed to support projects from early feasibility work through to production validation. This means brand owners, material suppliers, labelstock producers and converters can gain more confidence in new coating concepts before they are transferred to commercial lines.

• More realistic testing supports better prediction of industrial performance.
• 5-roll coating capability improves formulation precision and process control.
• UV and LED curing flexibility helps customers evaluate different production routes.
• Regional access strengthens collaboration with packaging partners in Asia-Pacific.
• Sustainability gains may come from lower energy use, fewer emissions and smoother scale-up.

Evonik’s message is clear: the upgrade is not only about equipment, but about enabling deeper technical collaboration. By combining advanced coating trials, curing flexibility and customer-specific development, the company is positioning its Shanghai Innovation Park as a stronger platform for the next generation of release coating technologies.

For the packaging industry, this type of investment reflects a broader trend. Innovation is moving closer to production reality, with suppliers expected to provide not only materials, but also process insight, validation support and sustainability pathways. As labels and release liners continue to evolve, advanced coating infrastructure will play an increasingly important role in delivering performance that is efficient, scalable and ready for market.

Image suggestion: a modern laboratory coating line with UV and LED curing equipment, rolls of labelstock and release liner materials, and engineers inspecting coated samples inside a clean innovation facility.