The power of modules
Crailsheim (Germany), May 2026 – Admittedly, developing packaging machines that can be easily combined while delivering maximum performance isn’t the simplest task. However, Gerhard Schubert has succeeded in doing just that, laying the foundations for practical robotics and repeatedly setting new standards.
Schubert packaging lines can be found in production halls across a wide range of sectors, from pharmaceutical producers to food manufacturers. Yet the solutions always consist of the same eight standard assemblies, from the machine frame to the robot unit. Those who understand these parts hold the key to the flexible automation of entire industries.
Gerhard Schubert must have anticipated this when, in 1959, he told one of his colleagues at the local firm Strunck about his idea of building packaging machines using a modular system. At Strunck, the plan never came to fruition.
Ever the pragmatist, he registered his company as a limited partnership on 1 January 1966, and from then on pursued the modular idea himself. In the same year he founded the company, he developed his first machine: a carton erector with hot-melt adhesive. The machine soon made a name for itself.
However, for Gerhard Schubert the technology still needed to evolve. What good is it if a system erects and glues, but doesn‘t also fill and seal? These are the main functions of toploading machines, which Gerhard Schubert was convinced had potential.
He set to work on the Schubert Special Machine Construction Kit, or Schubert-Sondermaschinen-Baukasten (SSB), which comprised several assemblies, though at the time they were all mechanical ones. This development clearly called for optimisation, and from the 1980s onward, Gerhard Schubert laid the groundwork for the fully robotised TLM portfolio known today. Over time, the robots became increasingly sophisticated, with vision technology enabling them to recognise and pick up products without further assistance.
From then on, the innovations came thick and fast: In the mid-1990s, Schubert’s VMS packaging machine controller was launched, forming the basis for the Schubert Machine Construction Kit (Schubert-Maschinen-Baukasten, SMB), which included controlling technology integrated into the machine bed. The first TLM machines went into operation in 2000. The principle was to make them even more compact, so the control cabinets were moved up into the frame. The launch of the Transmodul in 2009 marked a significant shift in the transport within packaging lines, offering unparalleled speed and agility.
Today AI, sustainability and new packaging concepts are changing the industry. With ever more intuitive solutions – notably the TOG series, a new generation of TLM, the LIGHTLINE range and the Packaging Competence Center – Schubert remains true to its roots by making things as easy as possible for its customers.
Website: www.schubert.group
About Gerhard Schubert GmbH
Gerhard Schubert GmbH is a globally recognised market leader in top-loading packaging machines (TLM). For its digital, robot-based packaging machines, the family-owned company based in Crailsheim (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) builds on an interplay of simple mechanics, intelligent control technology and high modularity. With this philosophy and a highly developed culture of innovation, the company has been pursuing an entirely independent technological path for 60 years.
With its TLM technology, the machine manufacturer provides its customers with future-proof packaging machine solutions that are easy to operate, flexible in terms of format conversion, high-performance and stable in function. The TLM packaging machines pack products of all types and from all sectors – from food, confectionery, beverages, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics to technical products – into trays, cartons, boxes or into flow-wrap bags.
Well-known global companies in the consumer goods and pharmaceutical industries rely on Schubert’s automation solutions, as do numerous small, medium-sized and family-owned companies. Founded in 1966, the second generation of the company now employs 1,900 people.
Learn more at:
Website: www.schubert.group
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SchubertGroup
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/gerhardschubertgmbhverpackungsmaschinen
Schubert UK Limited
Packaging Technology
| 1740 Solihull Parkway |
| Birmingham Business Park |
| Birmingham B37 7YD |
