SCALING SCREEN-PRINTED ELECTRONICS

Printed electronics are moving out of the laboratory and into real-world applications at an accelerating pace. From sensors and functional layers to flexible circuits and hybrid-electronic systems. As adoption 
grows across industries, such as automotive, medical devices, energy and smart packaging, manufacturers face a familiar, but increasingly complex challenge. The question is how to scale production, without sacrificing quality, yield or cost efficiency.

The technical hurdle used to be proving that a functional prototype can be printed. Now, the real challenge lies in transforming a validated design into a stable, repeatable and economically viable manufacturing process. This transition exposes weaknesses in workflows, equipment strategies and automation concepts that were never designed for industrial scale.

Scaling, in this context, is not a simple step-change in output. It is a gradual shift in priorities – from flexibility to consistency, experimentation to predictability and, ultimately, from manual control to data-driven automation.

Across the printed-electronics sector, many manufacturers encounter similar pain points during scale-up. Firstly, processes that work in research and development (R&D) prove unstable in production. Furthermore, manual handling introduces variability and yield loss. Another difficulty is that equipment optimised for prototypes cannot meet up-time or throughput targets. Finally, early decisions limit automation options later on.

“Scalability must be designed into the process from the beginning”

These challenges reflect a broader industry reality – scalability must be designed into the process from the beginning. Equipment selection, substrate-handling concepts and automation strategies – established during R&D – often determine whether or not a technology can be successfully industrialised.

In the early stages of printed-electronics development, flexibility is paramount. Materials, substrates, layer stacks and curing methods are tested and continuously refined. However, this phase concerns more than functional validation. It is where manufacturability is either enabled or compromised.

Repeatability, registration accuracy and curing stability should be established as early as possible, even when volumes are low. These parameters form the technical baseline for all future production phases.

Semi-automatic, screen-printing systems are typically best suited for this environment. They provide controlled printing conditions while allowing direct operator access for inspection and parameter adjustment. Output volume is secondary. The primary objective is to define a process that can later be stabilised and automated.

One Development Engineer, involved in the printed-electronics process design, notes, “In R&D, flexibility is essential – but repeatability is already a production requirement.” They continue, “The earlier a process is defined, with scale in mind, the smoother the transition later.”

As products move towards market validation, production shifts from prototypes to pilot runs and small series. At this stage, variability becomes the primary enemy. Electrical performance must remain stable across batches and printed layers must exhibit consistent thickness and alignment.

Manual intervention is still present, but it must be reduced in a controlled way. Selective automation – such as automated sheet take-off – speeds up the process while preserving flexibility for ongoing optimisation.

Three-quarter automatic systems often strike this balance effectively. They reduce operator workload, increase throughput and introduce a first level of standardisation. This can be implemented without locking the process into a fully automated structure too early.

The focus during this phase shifts towards process stability, basic inline control and cost awareness. These are all key indicators of whether or not a process is ready for volume manufacturing.

“In the early stages of printedelectronics development, flexibility is paramount”

Once demand reaches higher volumes, the role of equipment changes fundamentally. Throughput, uptime, yield and labour efficiency become decisive, competitive factors. Manual processes – even if technically sound – introduce unacceptable variability and cost at scale.

Fully automated, screen-printing lines enable continuous, stable production with minimal operator intervention. Integrated material handling and precise substrate positioning support consistent quality and predictable output.

Digitalisation and Industry 4.0 concepts further enhance competitiveness by enabling real-time process monitoring, data analysis and predictive maintenance. Rather than being optional, all of these capabilities are increasingly expected.

At this stage, automation is no longer a strategic choice. It is a requirement for participation in volume-driven markets.

“Substrate-handling accuracy plays a particularly critical role in printed electronics”

One of the defining characteristics of printed-electronics manufacturing is uncertainty. Market demand, application maturity and process stability often evolve in parallel. Rigid, monolithic equipment investments can quickly become constraints rather than assets.

A modular-equipment philosophy addresses this challenge by allowing automation levels to grow alongside production maturity. A stable, core-printing platform remains constant. Meanwhile, automation modules, such as feeding systems or take-off units, are added as requirements evolve.

Substrate-handling accuracy plays a particularly critical role in printed electronics. Modular pick-and-place systems and moving-table concepts reduce mechanical stress, protect sensitive surfaces and ensure precise positioning across all production phases. This consistency allows the same equipment base to support R&D, pilot production and high-volume manufacturing without fundamental redesign.

In early phases, semi-automatic configurations support experimentation and learning. As volumes increase, additional automation modules can be integrated to improve throughput, while maintaining operator control as required.

For high-volume applications, automatic feeding and handling systems transform the same platform into a production-grade solution. As a result, labour input is reduced and cost efficiency improved. Crucially, the ability to revert to development mode enables continuous process optimisation without the need for a separate R&D infrastructure.

In more complex applications, customised production systems become necessary. These include those involving specific substrates, specialised curing or downstream integration, customised production systems incorporating robotics and tailored-handling strategies. These systems often integrate complementary processes, such as die-cutting, laminating or inline measurement, to form a complete, application-specific workflow.

Scaling screen-printed electronics is not defined by speed alone. It is a strategic progression from flexibility to stability, from manual control to automation and from isolated processes to integrated workflows.

Manufacturers that align process maturity with the appropriate level of automation are better positioned to manage risk, adapt to changing market conditions and remain competitive over time. In addition, investment in modular, upgradeable production architectures improve these aspects.

Ultimately, efficiency is not the result of a single machine or technology. It is the outcome of coherent decisions made across the entire production lifecycle. The process begins in R&D and extends through high-volume manufacturing.