Packaging machine manufacturer Gerhard Schubert GmbH closed the 2020 financial year significantly better than the forecasts at the beginning of the pandemic year had suggested. The group of companies achieved an increase in turnover of 2.5 per cent.
Despite the extraordinary challenges of the 2020 financial year, the packaging machine manufacturer Gerhard Schubert GmbH a positive business result that was significantly better than predicted. In the 2020 financial year, the Schubert Group achieved an increase in sales of 2.5 per cent, 281 million euros in sales. According to the company, the order situation developed very favourably. Driven by the Growth in the USA and Europe Incoming orders were 25 per cent higher than in the previous year.
In the unforeseen pandemic situation, the Crailsheim-based global market leader in the field of packaging technology relied early on a Internal task force and a comprehensive safety and hygiene concept.
„That was a very good decision and is still working very well today. Thanks to the measures implemented to minimise the impact of Covid-19 on our operations, we have a very low number of sick employees overall and have always been able to work and deliver for our customers.“ Peter Gabriel, Commercial Managing Director of Gerhard Schubert GmbH
Convincing digital services
The manufacturer benefits from the fact that it is well advanced in the area of digitalisation. „Our possibilities for Virtual machine acceptance, AR-supported service processes and digitally supported commissioning at customer sites have of course proved very successful in customer service in 2020 and will continue to be an important focus of our development in the coming years,“ reports Marcel Kiessling, Managing Director Sales and Service.
In this context, the increase in service revenue compared to the previous year is clear: despite all the restrictions on travelling and the availability of service employees, the company achieved an increase in revenue of Schubert sales in this area are expected to increase from EUR 54 million (2019) to EUR 59 million. This is one reason why the further development of service offerings is an integral part of the company's growth strategy: „An important focus is on increasing and optimising performance tracking. Added to this is the Individualisation of our services - flexible and optimally adapted to specific customer requirements,“ continues Kiessling.
Innovations with international growth potential
International growth, increasingly in the USA and Europe, is currently being driven by the manufacturer's immediately available and pre-formatted lightline machine programme, which enables customers to react quickly to market trends, as well as progress in the development of tools for process optimisation using predictive maintenance (Grips.world).
The establishment of Industrial on demand 3D printing process for additive manufacturing in both the plastics and metal sectors and the consistent further development of sustainable packaging solutions with a strong focus on consulting are additional success factors in the current business development. In this context, business in the USA developed particularly positively. The Schubert subsidiary generated sales of around USD 82 million in North America in 2020. In addition to upward trends at Schubert UK and the main European markets of France and Italy, the company is also increasingly the Polish market increasingly important for the manufacturer.
„We have been intensifying our research activities in the field of robot technology for some time now. With AI projects in the field of robotics and image processing, we will make a decisive contribution to the continuous professionalisation and future viability of the entire packaging industry. We are also developing innovative assemblies for our TLM machines and our first collaborative robot, as well as making progress on TITAN, the digital twin of our packaging systems.“ Ralf Schubert, Managing Partner
Robotics has played a central role in the company for over 40 years. Now the packaging machine manufacturer has a new milestone in sight with its cobot, called tog. Schubert cobots automate simple manual processes for the first time outside the highly efficient machine processes and can be adapted to new tasks very quickly without any programming knowledge. Ralf Schubert describes the background: „We developed the tog.519 for pick-and-place applications with lightweight products where previous cobots would be overwhelmed.“
A quick grip on the mess
The tog significantly simplifies and accelerates packaging processes even further: „With one of our cobots, manufacturers will be able to more flexible to changing market situations and requirements. Our cobot has one of the fastest grips on clutter in the world.“
In order to guarantee speed throughout, it makes sense to use a protective cell in confined spaces. However, the cobot also offers the option of working without a protective cage and ensuring a high level of safety at the same time. In operation as a free-standing robot the Schubert cobot does not work directly together with humans (collaborative), but nevertheless in an environment with them. Such cobots are referred to as cooperative or coexistent and require a completely different safety concept.
„We have taught the cobot to see using image processing,“ adds the Managing Director. „This allows it to gradually reduce its speed when approached by employees until it comes to a standstill.“ And it is only thanks to the vision system that the fast cycle rate when reaching into the mess and the simple adaptation to new tasks are possible. Schubert emphasises: „The Interface-free combination of robotics and image processing is a very important feature of our tog series.“
The prerequisites for this are provided by a neural network with artificial intelligence (AI) developed by Schubert himself, The new cobot is the only one of its kind in this field of application and is precisely tailored to the specific industry requirements in terms of safety, speed and programming. The first cobots are already being tested by customers for the automation of feeding processes.
Outlook 2021
Supported by the high order backlog and equally good order intake in the first quarter, Schubert is confident about the development of the current financial year: „Our production capacities are currently very well utilised. We have already 100 per cent of planned annual sales in the order books and are not planning any new orders until 2022,“ says Peter Gabriel, describing the comfortable situation. The signs also point to continuous growth for the manufacturer in other respects. Construction of the new assembly hall will begin in the second half of 2021 as part of the planned expansion of the Crailsheim site.
Source: Gerhard Schubert GmbH
