New degrees of freedom for modular packaging machines

Central control cabinets take up space, increase cabling requirements, and complicate modular machine designs. Gerhard Schubert GmbH therefore relies on the latest generation of cabinet-free drive technology from Bosch Rexroth, thereby enhancing the modularity, integration, and flexibility of its machines.

"Modular mechanical engineering has been a key success factor for us for years," explains Jan Köhler, Head of Control Technology/Control Development at Gerhard Schubert GmbH. "With the new generation, we are taking the next step. We are continuing to develop our cabinet-free approach in a targeted manner and creating additional degrees of freedom for our machine architecture."

Together with Bosch Rexroth, Schubert is pursuing a decentralized approach to drive technology: The drives are integrated directly into the machine structure – to a much greater extent in the future than in previous solutions, in which some were still housed in the extended cable duct. Key components include the ctrlX DRIVE cabinet-free servo drive technology, including power supply units, as well as servo motors from the MS2N and MS2S series by Bosch Rexroth.

The new generation of drives offers consistent scalability – from single-axis to dual-axis units and different power ratings. This allows drive solutions to be optimally adapted to the specific power requirements of the machine. The scalable drive architecture also contributes to installation space optimization: By using dual-axis units and decentralized supply units, the required installation space can be significantly reduced and integration into the machine simplified. In addition to linear structures, star or T-topologies can also be realized, enabling machine modules to be combined and expanded with significantly greater flexibility.

New energy concept

In the new architecture, the drives are connected via a common DC bus. This allows them to exchange energy with each other – for example, when braking energy from one axis is used by another – without any losses through energy being fed back into the grid. A central power supply makes it possible to equalize energy across the entire machine. At the same time, the regulated DC bus voltage ensures consistent machine performance, even under varying grid conditions. This reduces conversion losses and increases the energy efficiency of the entire machine.

Development in close partnership

The technological development was carried out in close cooperation between Schubert and Bosch Rexroth. As a key customer, Schubert was involved in the development process of the new generation of ctrlX DRIVE cabinet-free drive technology from Bosch Rexroth from an early stage. “The close cooperation with Bosch Rexroth has enabled us to incorporate our requirements directly into development and to test the technology under real-life conditions at an early stage," says Jan Köhler.

Schubert is presenting its new generation of modular packaging machines for the first time at interpack 2026 in hall 14, booth D01. The machines’ architecture remains open to future extensions – both in terms of additional functions and scalability to larger machine configurations and other performance classes.