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Schubert unveiled the latest generation of its automated top-loading packaging machines (TLM) last week at the Interpack 2026 trade show in Düsseldorf, Germany.

The new machines, launched in black-grey and white colour schemes, feature a striking design with a curved frame that is engineered to support the F4 robots’ performance with AI-supported path calculation.

This design enables more process and automation technology to be integrated into the frame while maintaining the same external dimensions and weight, enabling a significantly higher functional density.

Volker Haaf, head of development for Electronics and Software at Schubert, explained that the previously used frames flexed too much to allow the ‘pick and place’ robots to operate precisely at high speeds. In collaboration with Dresden-based Schubert Motion, a frame variant four times stiffer was developed.

Despite the machine’s unchanged weight, Schubert said it also succeeded in optimising the machine’s costs.

“More technology in the same space expands the potential applications for our customers and makes the entire system even more efficient,” said Haaf. “With the new TLM, we are deliberately entering new performance areas.”

At Interpack, Schubert demonstrated how the TLM can effectively pack stacked round biscuits into flowpacks, with five F4 units in three cells packing 800 biscuits or 266 flowpacks per minute, at a film speed of 30 metres per minute.

The new TLM generation’s robots use the twin-pick method developed by the company, allowing two products to be picked simultaneously rather than sequentially. The robots’ path calculation, recalculated for every pick, adds further differentiation – Schubert’s head of new product development for Assemblies, Manuel Schuster, noted that this allows for reduced vibrations and increased performance of each robot arm by 20% without straining the mechanics.

Additionally, the new generation of machines is equipped with self-optimising vacuum pumps, contributing to energy efficiency. According to Schubert, this reduces air consumption, for example by suction tools, by around 30%.

“Vacuum technology accounts for close to half of the total energy requirement in a picker line. The impact the new pumps have on the system’s overall energy efficiency is just as significant,” Schuster said.

With the latest TLM generation, Schubert switches to the EtherCAT protocol for the automation concepts in its new control system. This replaces the previous Sercos-III protocol.

Operators can continue to control the machines and monitor processes via HMI screens, with greater flexibility than before. As detachable tablets, the machines can be used in a decentralised manner and enable web-based interaction with the line. Operators do not need to return to a fixed interface to evaluate information, change formats or carry out maintenance work – the machine allows them to do this from their current location and respond quickly.