Despite the adverse market conditions in the mechanical engineering sector, Gerhard Schubert GmbH achieved remarkable growth in 2023. With an overall performance of 320 million euros and an increase in turnover of more than nine per cent, the German packaging machine manufacturer is proving to be extremely resilient. As part of its Mission Blue Sustainability Initiative, the company is now focusing even more strongly on the research and development of environmentally friendly packaging technologies. The largest investment in recent years has been the completion of the new building complex at its headquarters – a showcase project not only in terms of climate protection, but also in terms of workplace design.
Said Marcel Kiessling, Managing Director Sales and Service: “Our Vision 2050 and Mission Blue initiatives are without a doubt the right forward-looking strategies for Schubert. We have defied the trend and achieved a very good annual result. It’s a team effort we can be proud of.”
Schubert is clearly maintaining its leading role in the packaging industry – with steady growth for the thirteenth year in a row, even under very difficult market conditions. The Schubert Group has also continued its growth trend with an estimated overall performance of 400 million euros. The Group now has around 1,700 employees, of whom some 1,200 work for Gerhard Schubert GmbH in Crailsheim. Despite a shortage of skilled labour, the company succeeded in increasing its core workforce and, with the help of increased productivity, successfully processed 2023’s high order volume. Production and assembly capacities have also been fully utilised so far this year and the order books are full until 2025. This is an extremely favourable starting position for innovative product developments, especially as the budget for research and development in 2024 is once again the largest single budget, representing nine per cent of overall performance.
Says Ralf Schubert, Managing Partner and Head of Technology: “This year, we will continue to invest in digitalisation and the expansion of our existing product portfolio. Our key future technologies include the resource-saving TLM Comfort Feeder in conjunction with the A3 carton erector for feeding cardboard blanks, as well as the Dotlock technology for creating strong joints in cardboard packaging without using hot glue.”
Also on this list are the expansion of Schubert Motion technology to other robot units to optimise path planning, the production-ready tog.519 collaborative robot and the 4YOUconnect service platform. Research activities in the field of robot technology will be further intensified in order to secure the company’s future viability through AI projects in robotics and image processing. Work on the new TLM 7 machine generation is also progressing. Additional success factors in the company’s current business development profile are the establishment of industrial on-demand 3D printing processes for additive manufacturing and the systematic further development of sustainable packaging solutions with the Schubert Packaging Perspectives services.
With the completion of the new assembly hall and office complex at the main site, Schubert has significantly expanded its production capacity. On a total area of 13,000 square metres, 30 per cent more space has been created for final assembly, as well as workspaces for 300 employees. The design and assembly areas are now located even more closely together, which the company says fosters direct feedback, creative technological advances and the ongoing development of energy-saving machine components. The state-of-the-art working environment also supports the company’s long-term goal of becoming one of Germany’s best employers and therefore attracting sufficient skilled labour in the long term. The new buildings’ energy concept also has a positive impact on sustainability: Equipped with one of the largest ice storage systems in the world, heat pump technology and photovoltaics on the roof, the buildings are operated 100% climate-neutrally in accordance with Scope 1 and 2 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.
Concluded Gerald Schubert, Shareholder of the Schubert Group and Managing Director of Schubert Business Development GmbH: “With our Mission Blue Sustainability Initiative, we have set ourselves very ambitious environmental protection targets. We are delighted that we have come a step closer to achieving these goals with the new buildings.” For more visit schubert.group
