Food Engineering logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Food Engineering logo
  • NEWS
    • Latest Headlines
    • Manufacturing News
    • People & Industry News
    • Plant Openings
    • Recalls
    • Regulatory Watch
    • Supplier News
  • PRODUCTS
    • New Plant Products
    • New Retail Products
  • TOPICS
    • Alternative Protein
    • Automation
    • Cannabis
    • Cleaning | Sanitation
    • Fabulous Food Plants
    • Food Safety
    • Maintenance Strategies
    • OEE
    • Packaging
    • Sustainability
    • More
  • EXCLUSIVES
    • Plant Construction Survey
    • Plant of the Year
    • Sustainable Plant of the Year
    • State of Food Manufacturing
    • Top 100 Food & Beverage Companies
  • MEDIA
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • FOOD MASTER
  • EVENTS
    • Food Automation & Manufacturing Symposium and Expo
    • Industry Events
  • RESOURCES
    • eNewsletter
    • Custom Content & Marketing Services
    • FE Store
    • Government Links
    • Industry Associations
    • Market Research
    • Classified Ads
  • EMAGAZINE
    • eMagazine
    • Archive Issue
    • Advertise
  • SIGN UP!
PackagingCase Studies & Field ReportsProcessing

Field Reports

How a pasta maker has maximized packaging efficiency

Schubert’s TLM technology uses reflected light color scanner to ensure accuracy

By Casey Laughman
picker arms place ravioli in trays

Picker arms take ravioli from an infeed belt and place them in trays. The F4 picker arms use light color scanners to correctly identify and pack the ravioli.

Photo courtesy of Gerhard Schubert GmbH

April 22, 2018

For more than three decades, the name Surgital has been synonymous with “surgelata,” or deep-frozen, pasta products. The Italian company, headquartered in Lavezzola in the Emilia-Romagna region, specializes in the production of frozen pasta products and ready meals, shipping its products to more than 50 countries. The company produces 300 pasta varieties daily, with new options being constantly added.

Surgital has been packaging its ravioli products with a Schubert system since 2005. The company is steadily growing and therefore needed a further packaging machine to extend its capacity for its new product range. Its past experience made it an easy decision, as the existing installation has been running successfully for more than 10 years. 

“We have been able to automatically pack anything we invented over the last ten years with our Schubert installation,” says Surgital Managing Director Edoardo Bacchini.

In total, the new plant will pack nine ravioli varieties, with different shapes, colors and fillings. There are constraints when it comes to packaging. The filled pasta is very delicate and requires very careful handling. At the same time, the pasta variations need to be sorted correctly and the trays need to be completely filled. 

Also, it is important that only undamaged products end up in the trays. Optical image recognition to determine the positioning of the product therefore plays an important role. Schubert uses a reflected light color scanner for this purpose to transmit the corresponding information to the TLM F4 picker arms.

“We value the reliability of our collaboration with Schubert, as well as the quality and flexibility of the machinery,” says Bacchini.

The new Surgital installation by Schubert comprises four sub-machines. From the cooling tunnel, the deep-frozen ravioli enter the first submachine unsorted and without touching each other at approximately -20°C, and are taken over by the infeed conveyor of the Schubert picker line. 

The products are guided through sub-machines, which have a total of nine F4 robots. The F4 robots are equipped with suction cups, with which they take the ravioli coming off the belt by air suction and place them carefully into the trays. The empty trays are supplied from a three-track magazine. The three trays are simultaneously removed from the magazine by an F3 transfer robot and placed on a chain conveyor. This in turn guides the trays in the opposite direction to the product flow through the individual stations, where they are filled by TLM F4 robots. 

The filled trays are passed to a delivery conveyor from the Schubert machine to the downline sealing unit. Nine different varieties of ravioli are sorted and packed in the corresponding trays. The production output can reach up to 720 ravioli per minute, depending on the variety. 

The stainless steel version of the machine ensures fast and thorough cleaning, which plays an immensely important role in the hygienic packaging of food.

Their innovative strength and courage to adopt new ways of working links these two family-owned companies. As developers of visionary products, Surgital’s delicious creations and Schubert’s flexible packaging are the two key factors in the formula for future success. 


For more information, visit  www.gerhard-schubert.de

KEYWORDS: conveying sensors

Share This Story

Looking for a reprint of this article?
From high-res PDFs to custom plaques, order your copy today!

Casey laughman0031

Casey Laughman is the former Editor in Chief of Food Engineering magazine. He has almost two decades’ experience as a writer and editor for mainstream and trade publications. He spent several years as a writer and editor for two news services before becoming the editor of a legal publication and managing editor of a trade magazine that covered the commercial facilities market.

Recommended Content

JOIN TODAY
to unlock your recommendations.

Already have an account? Sign In

  • Global Organic Food & Beverage Market to Grow

    Global Organic Food & Beverage Market to Grow

    With a CAGR of 12.07%, Bonafide Research estimates this...
    Latest headlines
  • skilled MEP worker

    Predicting Food and Beverage Manufacturing Trends for 2024

    The two words that should be kept in mind are labor and...
    Automation
    By: Derrick Teal
  • cleaning and sanitation

    The basics of cleaning and sanitation in food plants

    Sanitation maintains or restores a state of cleanliness...
    Cleaning | Sanitation
    By: Richard F. Stier
Subscribe For Free!
  • eMagazine
  • eNewsletter
  • Online Registration
  • Manage My Preferences
  • Customer Service

More Videos

Popular Stories

Conagra Logo

Conagra Brands to Sell Chef Boyardee Brand to Hometown Food Company

Chobani groundbreaking

Chobani to Build $1.2B Manufacturing Facility in New York

conveying and packaging operations

Planning Tips for Conveying Systems and Lines

CHECK OUT OUR NEW ESSENTIAL TOPICS

Alternative ProteinAutomationCleaning/SanitationFabulous Food Plants

Food SafetyMaintenance StrategiesOEE

PackagingSustainability

Events

June 5, 2025

Mass Customization Driving Innovation in the Food and Beverage Industry

The food and beverage industry is at the nexus of transformative global manufacturing trends, driving a shift toward personalized, customer-centric solutions. 

June 5, 2025

How Cafe Spice Uses Automation to Propel Private Label

Learn about Cafe Spice’s new, state-of-the-art, highly automated manufacturing facility in Beacon, New York. 

View All Submit An Event

Products

Recent Advances in Ready-to-Eat Food Technology

Recent Advances in Ready-to-Eat Food Technology

See More Products

Plant of the Year

Related Articles

  • Phil Kafarakis

    Q&A: How specialty processors are handling the COVID-19 pandemic

    See More
  • open-box dumper unloads pasta into conveyors

    Quality Pasta, Flexicon work together to reduce breakage

    See More
  • Alfa Laval Bag in Box filler

    Filling machines offer improved speed, sanitation and efficiency

    See More

Related Products

See More Products
  • gin 2.jpg

    Lessons from Gin: Business the Four Pillars Way

  • milk-dairy.jpg

    Milk and Dairy Foods Nutrition, Processing and Healthy Aging

See More Products
×

Elevate your expertise in food engineering with unparalleled insights and connections.

Get the latest industry updates tailored your way.

JOIN TODAY!
  • RESOURCES
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us
    • Food Master
    • Store
    • Want More
  • SIGN UP TODAY
    • Create Account
    • eMagazine
    • eNewsletter
    • Customer Service
    • Manage Preferences
  • SERVICES
    • Marketing Services
    • Reprints
    • Market Research
    • List Rental
    • Survey/Respondent Access
  • STAY CONNECTED
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • X (Twitter)
  • PRIVACY
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • TERMS & CONDITIONS
    • DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION
    • PRIVACY REQUEST
    • ACCESSIBILITY

Copyright ©2025. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing