Schubert will be presenting its lightline Cartonpacker to the public for the first time in America

Schubert’s lightline series consists of preconfigured packaging machines that are available immediately and can be delivered at short notice. These machines master standardised packaging tasks with great efficiency and high quality. The extremely compact machines enable customers to react quickly to market trends, at attractive investment costs, with a long service life and easy commissioning on site. As one of three lightline variants, the lightline Cartonpacker flexibly packs products with specific packaging formats into cartons in the smallest possible space. The system that Schubert built for Hudsonville comprises four identical cartoners connected in series and two lightline Cartonpackers. The flow-wrapped ice cream treats are first packed into 4-packs in the cartoners, followed by the packing of eight 4-packs each into a shipping carton in the two lightline Cartonpackers.

Schubert will be presenting one of these two lightline Cartonpackers at the exhibition stand. “We were able to convince the customer of the machine’s exceptional flexibility. Because Hudsonville produces various brands of ice cream bars and ice cream sticks on behalf of third parties, flexibility is key to the versatile and profitable use of a new packaging machine,” explains Stefan Hoffmann, the responsible Sales Account Manager at Schubert North America. Visitors to the trade fair in Las Vegas will experience for themselves the advantages of the lightline machines and the consulting expertise of the experts from the Schubert North American team.

Expert consulting and excellent local service are also what secured Schubert North America’s sales growth over the last year in spite of COVID-19. Quick commissioning thanks to the preconfigured systems as well as the high degree of digitalisation during machine handovers to customers also played a major role. The attendance times of Schubert technicians and other service personnel at customer premises were, of course, reduced to a Corona regulation-compliant minimum. Furthermore, in spite of the unique circumstances, Schubert North America was able to meet all delivery deadlines with its customers at all times, so that they themselves were flexible enough to be able to deliver to their own customers on time.

Another trade fair highlight is the exhibition of the world’s first ever pick & place robot in the historic "Pack to the future" pavilion at this year’s Pack Expo. “Roby” was developed by company founder Gerhard Schubert himself. As early as in 1970 and modelled on human anatomy and motion, Schubert began developing packaging machines that stood out with simple mechanics, high-level intelligence and the use of ideally matching tools. Strictly speaking, the celebrated 1981 Roby was an early pick & place robot. It would take another 15 years of development before the first official Schubert picker line was deployed: With the patented counterflow principle and fully automatic individual picking from running production, it was Roby that ushered in a new era in packaging technology at the interpack 1984 with its use in the world’s first chocolate packing line. This, along with many further development milestones, has since earned the packaging machine manufacturer from Crailsheim its position as global market leader in this segment.