Smart positioning systems pave the way for fast, fully automated adjustment of system components to different packaging formats

Fast and flexible format changeovers are vital for maximising the efficiency of automated packaging lines. Gerhard Schubert GmbH is a market leader in top-loading packaging machines (TLM) and therefore decided to invest in positioning systems (PSE) from halstrup-walcher GmbH to switch between package formats. Positioning systems use intelligent control system technologies to adjust the various axles of a machine to the packaging format specified for the product. This saves time, reduces the number of rejects, prevents machinery standstills caused by incorrect settings and thus ensures high quality standards.

“Standardisation makes an important contribution to a company’s efficiency and performance. And this is exactly what our customers are looking for in product packaging solutions,” explains Rolf Bögelein, control technician at Gerhard Schubert GmbH. The company manufactures packaging machines and other technology products for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food processing sectors. Well-known customers include Nestlé, Danone and Unilever. Gerhard Schubert GmbH aims to guarantee a consistently high level of packaging quality and one of the best ways to achieve this is through standardisation of workflows in its machines. At the same time, its wants its customers to have the flexibility and tools to cope with frequent changes in packaging sizes. The trend towards individual, customised products means this adaptability is becoming increasingly

The sub-machines are assembled from TLM system components. “For example, these include F2 robots for erecting, loading and closing boxes, F3 robots for removing packaging materials and 4-axle F4 robots. Our pick-and-place robot uses the TLM Vision System to pick products from a continuously running product belt and group them in a box, tray or transmodule,” says Bögelein. The transmodule is the first transport robot in the world which moves products through all the sub-machines on a rail system. TLM Operator Guidance – i.e. the master computer of a TLM packaging line – and the TLM Machine Frame complete the range of system components manufactured by Schubert.

A box erector, for example, has a swivelling blank magazine. Unlike the usual safety doors, this is easy to access as it is mounted on the front side of the machine. The magazine itself is an interchangeable part, i.e. a size-dependent tool which still has to be changed manually. During the process, the box blanks are removed from the magazine using a TLM-F3 robot. In a single step, a TLM-F2 robot guides the blanks over the gluing nozzles and erects them with a maximum output of 120 boxes per minute.