SPS Story

A robot places several sets of vaccines into cardboard boxes.

Schubert Packaging Systems – Schubert-Pharma

It all adds up

Awareness of more environmentally friendly packaging is growing – and our expertise is growing along with it. A new packaging line from Schubert-Pharma exemplifies how we guide our customers on their journey towards a more sustainable future through new end-to-end solutions – combining automation, packaging and environmental considerations into a single equation.


Packaging industry buzzwords like recyclability, volume reduction and plastic substitution only truly hit home when they’re put into action. That’s why we’ve expanded our capabilities as a machine manufacturer to include the Packaging Competence Center (PCC). A new turnkey solution comprising a pharmaceutical packaging line and in-house developed cardboard packaging for a vaccine manufacturer demonstrates just how well these elements complement each other.

More about Schubert-Pharma
An illustration showing that 16,200 plastic blisters are saved per hour.

Critical cargo

270 vaccine kits per minute adds up to almost 390,000 units in a single day. That’s the output of Schubert-Pharma’s new packaging machine. After all, supplying millions of people means producing and packaging vaccines in vast quantities. The serum is often delivered to medical practices in a glass vial with a needle and syringe. Previously, the pharmaceutical manufacturer protected this fragile cargo using sturdy plastic blister packs inside a box. But the new machine called for a change in packaging to a design made from a single material, fully recyclable, a third smaller in size, and with a single box size accommodating all 11 formats. It was a clear case for the PCC and our cardboard specialist Valentin Köhler.

Portrait Karin Kleinbach, Director of Pharma Unit, Schubert Packaging Systems

“The close integration and knowledge transfer between plant engineering, packaging development and pharmaceutical expertise – typical of Schubert – deliver decisive advantages.”

Karin Kleinbach, Director of Pharma Unit, Schubert Packaging Systems

Various inserts are placed into a cardboard box.

Eleven formats, one box

Valentin Köhler always sees cardboard as the material of choice – even for glass bottles. In addition to the smaller box, he developed 11 different inserts to accommodate the specific product combinations required. When properly folded and glued, such a compartment structure is remarkably robust, despite starting out as nothing more than a thin flat blank. It only takes on its true form within the machine. The new line handles this task with the greatest of ease, processing as many as 12 packages at once.


>> The PCC is an ongoing asset not only for Schubert itself, but above all for our customers.

More about the PCC
A robot places a syringe into an open cardboard box.

Cardboard expertise since the very first machine

This is where the team’s extensive experience in machine design really came into its own. “Even the very first Schubert machine erected cardboard boxes, and that legacy is evident to this day,” says project manager Luca Blümlein. This is also why no special machine tests were required for the prototypes to win the vaccine manufacturer round to the packaging solution. “Direct communication and a step-by-step approach were the decisive factors for our customer,” says Luca Blümlein.