Recently the pet food industry has seen significant growth in North America. During the pandemic, families and individuals increasingly opted for pet adoption or purchases, with cats and dogs being the most popular choices. A new dog owner usually becomes a pet food customer for an average of 10 years. As a natural result, pet food manufacturers recorded a higher demand in pet food sales, having to double or even triple their production, requiring process optimization and automation. While labour costs continue to rise on the one hand, on the other hand pet food buyers develop more diverse preferences in store location (in-store shopping vs. e-commerce), product packaging, product quality, product size and product variety. With its longstanding experience and highly flexible packaging technology, Schubert enables pet food manufacturers to seamlessly package single-packs, multi-packs, various products, and packaging formats all on one single source solution system. Schubert’s open machine architecture, quick-change overs as well as the company’s North American training & service centres have become further deciding factors of manufacturers opting for the German family-owned company.
How pet food mix packs and multi packs fit with sustainability
From Kansas City to Nuremberg in Germany: Following the Petfood Forum in North America, Dieter Moessner, Global Key Account Manager at Gerhard Schubert GmbH, gave a Keynote Speech at the European Petfood Forum at end of May 2022. He explained how pet food can be reconciled with sustainability goals, and highlighted challenges the pet food industry is facing in terms of supply chains and changing consumer behaviour. He also presented practical case studies that are already providing more sustainability in the industry. In addition to Schubert’s expertise in top loading packaging machines, the company also offers consulting solutions and guidance for manufacturers switching to sustainable packaging materials. Not only packaging materials but also efficiency of Schubert’s machine systems as well as efficiency of its own production processes are optimized along with the company’s recently launched sustainability strategy “MISSION BLUE”.
Expansion of the regional headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina
Taking part in ProPak is an important step for the packaging machine manufacturer in terms of managing its market positioning in Asia. In collaboration with its trading partner Winckler & Co Ltd, Schubert has successfully implemented several projects in Japan in the food and confectionery sectors. A manufacturer of cosmetics from Taiwan is also currently packaging its products with machines from Crailsheim. “We are looking forward to exciting discussions and encounters, and we are certain that we will be able to inspire even more customers with our packaging solutions,” says Laurent Bouillet.
