Last year, Automation UK took place for the first time in Coventry, England. As a result of its resounding success, the trade fair for automation and robotics is now entering its second round – and will be taking place this year on 18 and 19 June. Schubert UK Ltd will, of course, be participating once again. Schubert’s UK sales location was not only an exhibitor last year, but it is also a co-founder of Automation UK.
In the CBS Arena at Stand F10, the British team, led by Mark Stepney, will be providing information on the Germany-based company’s latest highly flexible, efficient, and resource-saving solutions for packaging products of all kinds and from all sectors. This year, visitors to the Schubert stand will have an opportunity to view a tog.519 cobot live and in action. At Automation UK, the mobile robot will be demonstrating how it can pick & place unsorted products at speeds of up to 90 cycles per minute using the AI-supported vision system.
The two-day event offers both exhibitors and visitors a unique opportunity to learn about and discuss the latest innovative automation and robotic solutions. It is organised by the British Automation and Robot Association (BARA) and Automate UK (formerly the PPMA). This umbrella organisation represents over 600 member companies in the UK processing and packaging machine industry.
Mark Stepney, Managing Director of Schubert UK, is the Vice Chairman of both BARA and Automate UK. Together with his team, he is working to establish Automation UK as one of the most important UK industry trade fairs. As an exhibitor this year, the packaging machine experts are looking forward to showcasing the tog.519 cobot in action to their customers, potential customers and visitors. Mark Stepney explains: “Prevailing economic challenges such as high-cost pressures on companies and a shortage of skilled labour cannot be solved overnight. But they can be addressed with sensible solutions. The tog.519 cobot can compensate for the lack of skilled labour and close automation gaps so that production can be made more efficient and cost-effective.”
The tog.519 cobot – master of pick & place applications
The cobot, which Schubert will be demonstrating live at Automation UK, is designed for high-performance pick & place applications: At speeds of up to 90 cycles per minute, the tog.519 picks various unsorted products – for example, cereal bars in the food sector, or pumps, bottles and lids in the cosmetics sector – from a crate or conveyor belt and places them in any desired destination and/or packing configuration. The system can achieve this thanks to AI-supported image processing developed in-house by Schubert. It recognises products as it picks them up as well as the environment in which they are to be placed.
The cobot was developed to automate the feeding process for packaging machines, which is still often handled manually. Processes such as placing products from a crate onto a conveyor belt, separating, correctly orienting or sorting them are very complex and could rarely be solved cost-effectively by machine – especially when a wide range of product formats have to be processed. The cobot can also be used at different and constantly changing points in production, thereby closing automation gaps. It is even possible to set up a complete production line by combining multiple tog.519 cobots. Overall, the tog.519 cobot excels with a high degree of speed, flexibility, and simplicity, and has the potential to elevate consumer goods packaging processes to the next level of automation.
Top-loading packaging machines for a wide range of consumer goods
In addition to the live cobot demonstration, visitors to the fair will also have an opportunity to find out more about Schubert’s wide range of packaging solutions for consumer goods from the experts at Automation UK. Mark Stepney adds: “Every customer is different and faces very unique challenges. Whether we are talking about pick & place, packaging into flowpacks or cartoning a wide variety of products and formats – customers benefit from our many years of consulting expertise and our state-of-the-art machine technologies. We offer customised packaging solutions that are precisely geared to the respective customer’s needs. And we never lose sight of sustainability: Our flexible, modular, and easily convertible packaging solutions can process both conventional and fully recyclable packaging.”
Support for customers from the pharmaceutical sector
Along with information on the latest packaging solutions, Mark Stepney and his team also have another new development to announce: Schubert UK, together with Schubert-Pharma, will now be supporting customers from the pharmaceutical sector locally in the UK and Ireland, in addition to customers from the consumer goods sector. Customers in the UK can now benefit from advice on Schubert’s top-loading packaging processes designed to ensure high-quality, pharma-compliant packaging – for vials, ampoules, syringes, medical devices and combination products. Mark Stepney concludes: “We are delighted that we have been able to expand our portfolio and are looking forward to answering all the questions that visitors to the exhibition may have.”
Website: www.schubert.group