Vacuum technology is widely used in all areas of the packing-material and packaging industry as a safe and priceworthy method for handling the materials and the packed goods. Typical examples are the automatic production of packets, packing machines, or the handling of parcels and cardboard boxes during picking from stock and placing on pallets. In all cases. The suction pads and vacuum-gripper systems ensure that the packing materials, packed goods and packages are moved precisely and reliably to the desired positions. It is clear from the wide range of packing materials used in such applications, that many different suction pads are necessary for the safe and reliable handling  of packing materials in fully automatic systems which run in two or even three shifts. These materials may be airtight or porous, with smooth or rough surfaces, may be made of paper or plastic film and thus capable of supporting loads and withstanding mechanical stress, or may be flexible, as in the case of flat cardboard layers or flat-folded empty cardboard boxes. For each application, it is necessary to determine and select the optimum vacuum gripper.

The vacuum specialist J. Schmalz GmbH in 72293 Glatten in the Black Forest offers a very wide range of standardised and special suction pads with which virtually any handling problem can be solved individually and perfectly. The range includes, for example, suction pads made of suitable materials and designed especially for the handling of paper, cardboard boxes, plastic films, paper sacks, plastic sacks and other similar objects. Due to their flexibility, these suction pads adapt themselves optimally to the material and surface finish of the objects to be handled.
For a wide range of applications and requirements, there are, for example, the standard suction pads of the type SGPN, made of natural rubber and with a long, thin sealing lip, which are particularly suitable for the handling of films and paper.
Suction pads made of Vulkollan are very hard-wearing and are thus suitable for the handling of cardboard sheets and boxes with rough surfaces. Under rough operating conditions, these suction pads have an operating lifetime of up to 20 times that of rubber suction pads.
Suction pads made of silicone are used primarily for the packing of foodstuffs and are, for this reason, available in foodstuff quality.
Suction pads with foam-rubber seals are used for the handling of plastic bags and medium-sized sacks. They consist of an aluminium body and a foam-rubber seal and the inside of the suction pad has a supporting grid which can be adjusted for the handling of various bags and sacks.

Extremely flexible adaptation to a wide range of applications is thus already possible with just the comprehensive range of standard suction pads.
The specialists at Schmalz also offer innovative special suction pads for the solution of extremely demanding handling applications.
The newest product is a suction pad type FSGAO, made of Vulkollan and with an integrated seal made of a special foam material. These oval, bellows-type suction pads have an additional seal in the form of a layer of special foam on the actual sealing lip, permitting the handling of extremely flexible and unstable packages. A further application area for these FSGAO pads is the handling of cardboard boxes with lightly or strongly structured surfaces (ribs, corrugations), since they adapt themselves quickly and permanently to the surface of the goods to be handled. The resulting perfect seal ensures that the pads are evacuated more quickly. It also prevents or greatly reduces the vacuum leakage, which means that a smaller vacuum generator can be used, thus slightly reducing the costs for compressed air (if an ejector is used) Thanks to this "intelligent" suction pad FSGAO, it is now possible to automate handling tasks which were previously regarded as impossible.