Packaging processes are becoming increasingly complex due to demand for greater product diversity and smaller batch sizes. Gerhard Schubert GmbH is responding to this trend with ‘simplicity’, as will be showcased at this year's interpack.
It may be the age of Industry 4.0 with a focus on intelligent machinery, but Schubert syas it has been capitalising on its own intelligent machine control systems for decades. The sixth generation of its VMS packaging machine controls is a standard component in each and every TLM packaging machine without an electrical cabinet. It ensures optimal performance and maximum flexibility throughout the machine’s entire service life.
In the future, Schubert will supplement its TLM packaging machines with a data box. It represents the first stage of the emerging GRIPS.world digital platform, which will improve both internal communication and communication with customers, while sustainably increasing overall packaging line efficiency.
Schubert will be demonstrating the flexibility of its high-performance technology at the interpack trade fair (in Dusseldorf in May) with four TLM packaging machines processing confectionery and cosmetic products.
For confectionery, Schubert will demonstrate a TLM system consisting of five sub-machines, which packages filled cone-shaped wafers into cartons. The maximum output of this system is 250 wafers per minute.
Another exhibit is a line consisting of four sub-machines, which packs biscuit-filled trays into two-piece tins or boxes. With this application, Schubert will demonstrate the advantages of automation, which results in considerable savings in personnel costs and extremely gentle product handling.
The maximum output of the exhibited machine is 55 tins or boxes per minute with eleven different formats. With this application, customers capitalise on flexibility in production planning and high overall system efficiency.
In addition to the Flowmodul – Schubert’s new flow-wrapping component – visitors will experience a new TLM carton erecting system which defines a fresh new benchmark in terms of performance and format conversion.
The Schubert Group will also be celebrating a premiere with the presentation of its new expert team, Schubert-Cosmetics. Under the SPS umbrella (Schubert Packaging Systems), the experts in systems engineering and engineering consulting, the corporate group now also bundles its expertise for cosmetics manufacturers.
In its new developments, Schubert is also targeting integrated systems that are more compact, more flexible and more efficient than conventional systems. The most diverse packaging processes are mapped in a single TLM machine so that interfaces between process steps are simplified or entirely eliminated.
For TLM machines, there are fully-integrated thermoforming, sealing, punching and filling units – all without electrical cabinets – for the primary packaging of products, e.g. for shampoo bottles or coffee capsules. This is made possible, among other things, by the Transmodul transport robot, developed by Schubert, with which the interface between primary and secondary packaging can be bridged.
