Introduction
Viscon (Shanghai) Printing Technology & Development Co., Ltd.—known in Chinese as 得水（上海）印刷科技发展有限公司—is a Shanghai-based specialist in printing-process control equipment for the plastics, packaging, and related converting industries. The company is associated with the Viscon brand and focuses particularly on printing-ink viscosity-control systems, including centralized control and temperature-management technologies used to stabilize ink conditions during production.
Viscon Shanghai operates within a specialized segment of the broader plastics-industry supply chain. Rather than manufacturing polymers or plastic products, it supplies process equipment that supports the printing of flexible packaging, films, labels, molded articles, and other substrates commonly used in plastics conversion. Its technology addresses a key production variable: ink viscosity, which affects transfer behavior, color consistency, print quality, waste levels, and process reliability.
The company’s publicly presented product portfolio includes the iCom viscosity controller, designed for centralized management, and TempCon, a system combining viscosity control with ink heating and cooling functions. Its participation in CHINAPLAS exhibitions has positioned the company within the international plastics and rubber machinery community, where digital process control, production stability, reduced material waste, and greater automation are important competitive themes.
History and Development
Viscon Shanghai’s development has been closely connected with the expansion of its parent-brand technologies in the Chinese printing and plastics-converting market. Public exhibition materials identify the company as a Viscon Group entity and show recurring participation in major Chinese plastics and printing-industry exhibitions.
Several development milestones illustrate this progression:
- The company exhibited at CHINAPLAS 2021 in Shenzhen, presenting viscosity-control technology to plastics and rubber industry visitors.
- It participated in CHINAPLAS 2023 in Shenzhen, where it promoted iCom centralized viscosity control and the temperature-adjustable TempCon system.
- At CHINAPLAS 2024 in Shanghai, the company displayed TempCon together with iCom, highlighting the integration of centralized control and temperature regulation.
These activities reflect a development path centered on adapting specialized printing-control technology to the requirements of China’s large packaging, film, and plastics-processing markets.
Business Operations and Segments
Viscon Shanghai’s activities are concentrated in the industrial-equipment segment of the printing and converting value chain. Its principal business functions include:
- Supplying viscosity-control equipment for printing processes.
- Supporting centralized monitoring and adjustment of ink viscosity.
- Providing temperature-management functions for printing inks.
- Introducing Viscon technologies to customers and machinery users in China.
- Participating in plastics, rubber, printing, and packaging exhibitions.
The company’s market role is that of a process-automation and quality-control supplier. Its equipment can be incorporated into printing lines operated by converters, packaging manufacturers, and other businesses that require stable ink delivery over extended production runs.
Products and Technologies
iCom viscosity controller
The iCom viscosity controller is presented as a centralized viscosity-control system. Centralized control is particularly relevant to production facilities operating multiple printing stations or machines, because it can simplify supervision and reduce the need for isolated manual adjustments.
In practical terms, a viscosity-control system typically monitors the condition of printing ink and regulates the addition of solvent or other control media to maintain a target operating range. Stable viscosity helps printing systems maintain more consistent ink transfer and color density as production conditions change.
The principal process benefits associated with centralized viscosity control include:
- More consistent ink behavior across a production run.
- Reduced dependence on manual viscosity adjustment.
- Improved coordination between multiple printing units.
- Greater repeatability in color and print appearance.
- Potential reduction in rejected material caused by process drift.
TempCon temperature-adjustable viscosity control
TempCon combines viscosity control with temperature adjustment. The system is designed to heat or cool ink in order to raise or lower its temperature while maintaining controlled viscosity conditions.
Temperature is technically significant because ink viscosity is affected by thermal conditions. As temperature changes, the flow characteristics of inks, coatings, and related fluids may also change. A system capable of managing both viscosity and temperature can therefore help printers respond to seasonal variation, machine heat, production speed, and differences in ink formulation.
The company describes TempCon as incorporating both heating and cooling functions, rather than relying only on warming. This bidirectional control can be relevant where process conditions require viscosity reduction or stabilization at elevated temperatures, as well as where cooling is necessary to prevent excessive temperature rise.
Printing-process integration
Viscosity controllers are generally used alongside printing-line components such as:
- Ink circulation and supply systems.
- Pumps and dosing units.
- Printing cylinders or anilox-based metering systems.
- Flexographic or gravure printing units.
- Solvent-management and drying systems.
- Centralized production-monitoring interfaces.
The effectiveness of such equipment depends on proper integration with the ink formulation, printing method, line speed, ambient conditions, and quality-control procedures. It is therefore best understood as part of a broader process-control architecture rather than as a standalone replacement for operator and laboratory oversight.
Applications and End Markets
Viscon Shanghai’s technologies are relevant to industries in which printed appearance, repeatability, and production efficiency are important. These include:
- Flexible plastic packaging.
- Printed films and laminates.
- Food and consumer-goods packaging.
- Labels and pressure-sensitive materials.
- Industrial films.
- Paper and composite packaging.
- Printing operations serving plastics converters.
Within flexible packaging, viscosity control can support stable reproduction of brand colors, graphics, text, and fine details. The technology is also relevant to converters seeking to reduce start-up waste and maintain quality during long production runs.
The company’s equipment may be particularly applicable to plants operating several printing units or multiple lines, where centralized control can simplify process supervision and provide a more standardized operating environment.
Global Presence and Market Position
Viscon Shanghai serves as a China-based platform for Viscon printing-control technologies. Its location in Shanghai places it near one of the world’s largest concentrations of packaging producers, plastics processors, printing-equipment suppliers, and materials companies.
The company has used CHINAPLAS as an important channel for presenting its technologies to the plastics and rubber industries. At CHINAPLAS 2024, it exhibited at the Shanghai event under the Viscon Shanghai name and promoted the iCom and TempCon systems.
The company’s competitive position is based on specialization rather than breadth of equipment manufacturing. Its relevance derives from addressing a narrowly defined but consequential production problem: maintaining consistent ink viscosity and temperature in industrial printing operations. In this area, it competes within a broader field of ink-management, automation, inspection, and process-control suppliers.
Its market prospects are influenced by several conditions:
- Growth in flexible packaging and printed films.
- Increasing automation of converting plants.
- Demand for lower scrap rates and more predictable production.
- Greater use of centralized factory-control systems.
- Requirements for consistent color quality across geographically distributed production.
- Pressure to improve resource efficiency in printing and packaging.
Research and Development
The company’s product development is focused on extending viscosity-control functions beyond basic manual adjustment. TempCon represents an emphasis on integrating thermal management with viscosity regulation, while iCom reflects the development of centralized control for production environments with multiple operating points.
Exhibition materials also identify ongoing patent-related development associated with the TempCon and iCom technologies. Such references indicate an effort to protect or differentiate the company’s control-system architecture, although the commercial significance of individual patent applications depends on their jurisdiction, grant status, and scope.
Research and development priorities in this field commonly include:
- More stable sensor performance.
- Improved response to rapid changes in line conditions.
- Better integration with printing-line automation.
- Simplified operator interfaces.
- More accurate regulation across different ink formulations.
- Lower maintenance requirements.
- Compatibility with higher-speed printing systems.
Sustainability and Environmental Considerations
Viscosity-control equipment can contribute indirectly to environmental performance by improving process stability. More consistent ink conditions may help reduce start-up waste, rejected rolls, color corrections, and unnecessary consumption of inks and solvents.
Temperature control may also support more efficient operation by reducing uncontrolled process variation. However, the environmental effect depends on the complete production system, including ink chemistry, drying technology, solvent recovery, energy consumption, substrate selection, and waste-management practices.
The company’s technology is relevant to several broader sustainability trends in plastics and packaging:
- Reduction of material waste during printing and changeovers.
- Improved yield from plastic films and laminates.
- More consistent use of inks and process additives.
- Support for automated quality-control systems.
- Potential contribution to resource efficiency in high-volume converting.
Process-control equipment does not by itself resolve the environmental challenges associated with packaging, solvent use, or end-of-life management. Its contribution is instead operational: helping manufacturers use production inputs more consistently and reduce avoidable defects.
Quality Management and Certifications
The CHINAPLAS eMarketplace identifies Viscon Shanghai as a “Shining Niche” company, a designation associated with Chinese government-recognized enterprises assessed through indicators such as specialization, economic performance, operational quality, and management capability.
This designation places the company within a policy framework that encourages specialized industrial firms with focused technical capabilities. In the context of printing and plastics processing, quality management is especially important because viscosity-control equipment influences production consistency and must operate reliably in demanding industrial environments.
Relevant quality considerations include:
- Measurement accuracy and repeatability.
- Compatibility with printing inks and process fluids.
- Safe operation of heating and cooling components.
- Reliability under continuous production conditions.
- Ease of calibration and maintenance.
- Integration with existing production-control systems.
Innovations and Future Outlook
Viscon Shanghai’s future development is likely to remain connected with the automation and digitization of printing and plastics-converting operations. The combination of centralized viscosity control and temperature management addresses the industry’s movement toward more integrated process supervision.
Potential areas of development include:
- Integration with manufacturing-execution and plant-monitoring systems.
- Remote diagnostics and service support.
- Expanded data logging for quality analysis.
- Automated adjustment based on line speed and production conditions.
- Greater compatibility with water-based, solvent-based, and other ink systems.
- Improved control for high-speed film and packaging printing.
- Support for waste-reduction targets in converting plants.
Market adoption will depend on measurable production benefits, compatibility with existing equipment, installation complexity, operator training, and the ability to demonstrate value across different ink systems. The company’s specialized position gives it relevance in a segment where relatively small improvements in process consistency can affect material yield, productivity, and customer-specified print quality.
Summary
Viscon (Shanghai) Printing Technology & Development Co., Ltd. is a specialized Shanghai-based supplier of printing-process control technology for the plastics, packaging, and converting industries. Its principal offerings include the iCom centralized viscosity-control system and TempCon, which combines viscosity regulation with ink heating and cooling.
The company occupies a focused position within the plastics-industry ecosystem by supporting the quality and efficiency of printed films, flexible packaging, labels, and related converted materials. Its participation in CHINAPLAS and its development of temperature-adjustable and centralized control technologies demonstrate an orientation toward automation, process stability, and production consistency. As plastics converters face increasing pressure to reduce waste, maintain color accuracy, and improve operational efficiency, viscosity and temperature management remain important technical components of modern printing-line control.
References
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CPS+ eMarketplace. (n.d.). VISCON (SHANGHAI) PRINTING TECHNOLOGY & DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.VISCON (SHANGHAI) PRINTING TECHNOLOGY & DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.. CPS+ eMarketplace. https://www.chinaplasonline.com/eMarketplace/ExhibitorInfo?CompId=1035216Link