GM Functionals | From Process Development to Industrial Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing
Author: Cesar Omar Ramirez Quiroz | corq@gm.dk
A functional material may perform well in the laboratory but producing it continuously and consistently is a very different challenge.
This is a common issue in printed electronics, batteries, fuel cells, solar technologies, and other functional thin-film applications. As a process moves from laboratory trials to pilot production and industrial manufacturing, more variables come into play.
Scale-up is not simply about increasing speed or using a wider web. The material, substrate, equipment, and individual production stages all need to work together.
What changes during scale-up?
Laboratory development often involves short samples, small quantities of material, and relatively slow processing speeds. Parameters can be adjusted between trials, and each production step can be examined separately.
In roll-to-roll manufacturing, the substrate moves continuously through several stages. Coating, drying, curing, web handling, registration, inspection, and converting become part of the same process.
Increasing the line speed, for example, reduces the time available for drying or curing. Moving to a wider web can increase output, but it may also make coating uniformity and tension control more difficult.
A successful laboratory result is therefore only the starting point. The next task is to find a stable process window that can maintain the required quality throughout a complete production run.
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Looking beyond the coating stage
Choosing the right coating method is important, but it is only one part of the process.
The coating result can be affected by viscosity, surface tension, flow behaviour, layer thickness, substrate properties and line speed. In applications with several functional layers, each layer may have different coating, drying and curing requirements.
The condition of one layer may also influence the adhesion, uniformity and performance of the next. This means that the order of the individual stages must be considered during development.
Experience from building multi-station slot-die coating lines for web widths from 350 mm to 2 metres shows that there is rarely one fixed route from development to production. Requirements often change as more is learned about the material and its behaviour.
A modular production setup can make it easier to adapt the process as it develops. Additional coating stations, drying or curing technologies, inspection systems and converting steps can be introduced when they are needed.
Connecting drying, curing and web handling
Drying and curing can determine both the performance of the material and the speed of production.
If too much heat or energy is applied, it may damage a sensitive substrate or create defects in the coating. If the treatment is insufficient, residual solvents or incomplete curing may affect adhesion, conductivity, barrier properties or long-term stability.
Web handling is just as important. Functional materials are often processed on thin polymer films, metal foils, membranes and other sensitive substrates. Changes in tension, alignment or temperature can cause wrinkles, stretching, registration errors and variations in coating thickness.
These factors cannot be developed separately. Heating and cooling can change how the substrate behaves, while unstable web tension can affect several stages of the process.
Planning for downstream processing
The production process does not always end when the functional layers have been applied.
The coated material may also need to be slit, laminated, die-cut or processed by laser. These operations introduce further requirements for registration, web control and material handling.
Considering these steps early can reveal possible limitations before the process and product design are fixed. It can also reduce unnecessary material handling and create a simpler route from the coated web to the finished component.
Using inspection to understand the process
In industrial production, it is not enough to inspect a few samples after the run has been completed. Variations need to be identified while the material is being processed.
Inline inspection can detect visible defects, coating variations and registration errors before a complete roll is affected. When the inspection results are connected with production data, they can also help explain when and why a variation occurred.
This makes inspection useful for process development as well as quality control. It provides information that can be used to improve the process, define tolerances and support further automation.
Designing with manufacturing in mind
Manufacturing should be considered while the material and product are still being developed.
Otherwise, a technically successful product may depend on long drying times, very narrow tolerances or manual adjustments that are difficult to reproduce in industrial production.
Early cooperation between material developers, researchers, process engineers and equipment specialists can help identify these issues. In some cases, a change to the chemistry, substrate or product design may create a more stable and practical production process.
The important question is not simply whether the product works. It is whether it can be produced repeatedly at the required quality, speed and cost.
See scale-up in practice
How do you turn a promising process into stable, repeatable production?
Join GM Functionals Industry Day on 23 October 2026 in Birkerød, Denmark, for a hands-on look at the complete journey from process development to industrial roll-to-roll manufacturing.
Meet researchers, technology developers, materials specialists, process engineers and equipment experts. Exchange experience, discuss real scale-up challenges and explore coating, drying and curing, web handling, converting, laser processing, inspection and automation.
Through technical presentations, practical workshops, panel discussions and live demonstrations, you will see real machines and processes in action and gain new perspectives on the journey from development to industrial roll-to-roll production.
Participation is FREE, and catering is included.
MEET A STRONG LINE-UP OF EXPERTS FROM ACROSS INDUSTRY AND RESEARCH:
Markus Klein (SURAGUS), Morten Madsen (University of Southern Denmark), Hindrik de Vries (SALD), Douglas Gray (Agito), Anders Elfwing (Epishine), TSE Application Representative (TSE Troller), Gernot Oreski (PCCL), and Alan Brown (Nagase ChemteX America).
From GM Functionals, Uffe Nielsen, CEO, will open the Industry Day; Johan Nehammer, CTO, will deliver the keynote; César Omar Ramírez Quiroz, CScO, will chair the programme; and Antoine Rieutord, CSO, will lead the industrial walkthrough, live demonstrations, and networking.
REGISTER FOR INDUSTRY DAY: https://news.gmfinishing.com/gm-functionals-industry-day-2026
Join Us in Berlin This year, the event will also feature:
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