Covestro to Launch Automated Laboratory for Coating and Adhesive Formulation Development

Digitalized research infrastructure combines robotics, data intelligence and automation to accelerate formulation processes

Image: Female researcher calibrating automated test system for material formulations in Covestro's digital laboratory environment; Copyright: Covestro

Fully automated workflows and digitalized processes enable high-throughput testing and data generation at Covestro’s new lab. Copyright: Covestro

21.04.2025

Covestro is set to open a state-of-the-art automated lab in 2025 to optimize coating and adhesive formulations. With a focus on digitalization, circular materials, and customer-specific testing, the lab aims to run tens of thousands of tests annually—24/7, driven by AI and smart robotics.

Accelerating Material Innovation Through Automation

Manufacturers of coatings and adhesives face growing pressure to innovate quickly, improve efficiency, and meet sustainability and regulatory standards. A key success factor: the right binders and crosslinkers. To support this, Covestro will open a fully automated laboratory in 2025 dedicated to developing and optimizing formulations.

"With our automated laboratory, we can work together with our customers on the future of coatings and adhesives. Because it operates almost completely autonomously and learns from our existing knowledge and data lake as well as newly generated data, it makes the process of optimizing and developing formulations many times more efficient and precise," says Thomas Büsgen, head of the laboratory. "This allows us to optimize existing formulations faster or even develop completely new formulations for and together with our customers. We can say: We are reaching a new level of modern research."

Image: Female scientist in lab coat working with robotics and sample containers in Covestro's automated formulation lab; Copyright: Covestro

In Covestro’s new automated laboratory, robotics support the preparation and testing of coating and adhesive formulations. Copyright: Covestro

Testing Formulations with Covestro Binders and Crosslinkers

The lab will focus on formulations based on Covestro’s binders and crosslinkers—key components for ensuring desired material properties such as hardness, adhesion, gloss, or durability. These formulations typically consist of 7 to 15 ingredients, resulting in a vast number of combinations. The use of computer-aided design and automation now makes it possible to run extensive test series efficiently.

"Our new automated laboratory gives us more possibilities for testing formulations. It relieves our specialized laboratories of their standard tasks and can analyze samples more systematically," explains Martin Merkens, Head of Sales & Market Development EMLA in Covestro's Coatings and Adhesives business entity. "This will particularly help us in the area of circular economy: Alternative raw materials, for example bio-based or recycled materials, can be tested faster and evaluated for their properties in the final product."