Gerhard Schubert, the founder and shareholder of leading packaging machine manufacturer Schubert, passed away in Crailsheim on 4 July 2023 at the age of 84. With his passing, the packaging industry has lost a defining figure and an extraordinary personality.
In 1966, he founded Gerhard Schubert GmbH, one of the most innovative and successful companies in international packaging machine manufacturing. To this day, his visionary ideas of a modular robot-assisted top-loading packaging machine continue to influence modern packaging technology around the world. Gerhard Schubert laid the foundation for the company in 1953 with an apprenticeship as a mechanic. He then spent several years gathering experience as a design engineer at the Strunck and Kugler companies before setting up his own engineering & design office in 1964.
Only two years later, Gerhard Schubert GmbH was founded in Crailsheim. With his pioneering spirit and entrepreneurial daring, Gerhard Schubert built the small company into an international group of companies over a period of decades and took the family business to the forefront of the world’s packaging manufacturers. He always remained down-to-earth and deeply connected to the region surrounding his home town of Crailsheim. In addition to his two sons Ralf and Gerald Schubert, the next generation of grandchildren is now working in the company.
Gerhard Schubert’s passing is a great loss. But on his life’s journey, he left traces that will reach far beyond his time with us. He once very aptly described himself: “Yes, I am a visionary. A designer must have vision.” And this vision – to build “the best packaging machines in the world” – is one that he brought to life with flying colours.
Gerhard Schubert GMBH is a globally recognized market leader in top-loading packaging machines (TLM). For its digital, robot-based packaging machines, the family-owned company based in Crailsheim (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) builds on an interplay of simple mechanics, intelligent control technology and high modularity. With this philosophy and a highly developed culture of innovation, the company has been pursuing an entirely independent technological path for more than 50 years.
The TLM packaging machines pack products of all types and from all sectors – from food, confectionery, beverages, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics to technical products – into trays, cartons, boxes or flow-wrap bags.
Well-known brands such as Ferrero, Nestlé, Unilever, Mondelez and Roche rely on Schubert’s automation solutions, as do numerous small, medium-sized and family-owned companies.
