Bramvia — Business Central Experts
What a plastics processor needs from its ERP: press and mold scheduling, resin and masterbatch usage, scrap by shift, mold maintenance by cycle count, lot traceability and plastic packaging tax data. With the whole cycle in 3D.
Short answer: a plastics processor loses margin in three places: idle presses, scrap and resin. The ERP has to schedule which mold runs on which press and record good parts, scrap and downtime per shift. It also has to track real resin and masterbatch usage and flag mold maintenance before the tool fails. Then you get the real cost per part. Walk through the whole cycle below and see what happens with a mold past its cycle limit.
The whole cycle of a moulded part
- Order and mold: part, mold, cavities and cycle time.
- Press scheduling: which mold, on which press, and when.
- Resin and masterbatch: usage per kilo, color masterbatch and regrind percentage.
- Production and scrap: good parts, scrap and downtime per shift.
- Mold maintenance: cycle counts and preventive service.
- Quality and traceability: resin lot linked to every pallet of parts.
- Shipping and plastic packaging tax: invoice and the plastic weight records the tax needs.
- Cost per part: real resin, machine time, labour and scrap.
What the ERP has to do
- Scheduling by press and mold, with real capacity and mold changes.
- Production reporting per shift from a shop-floor tablet, with scrap and downtime to calculate OEE.
- Actual resin usage against standard, including reused regrind.
- Mold maintenance by cycle counter.
- Plastic packaging tax data: in the UK, the Plastic Packaging Tax applies to packaging with less than 30% recycled plastic, so weight and recycled content per component have to be on record. In several US states, extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws for packaging ask for similar data.
Scheduling without spreadsheets is covered in production planning without Excel.
What Business Central has and what is added
Manufacturing with routings and work centres, planning, consumption, lots, fixed assets and standard and actual costing are standard. Shop-floor reporting on a touch terminal, a cycle counter linked to the press and the OEE calculation come from an add-on or a shop-floor data capture app.
How we implement it
We start with the press or part family that worries you most. We load molds, routings and standard usage, and record two real weeks of production per shift. The first actual cost per part report usually shows which parts are sold below cost. You pay for each phase only after it is delivered and you accept that it works.
Signs you need it now: scrap is written in a notebook; nobody knows how many cycles each mold has run; or part costs have not changed in years although resin has.
FAQ
Can Business Central schedule by press and mold? Yes, with work centres and routings. The mold can be a resource or a fixed asset with its own availability.
Can it calculate OEE? Yes, from logged run time, good parts and scrap per shift.
How is regrind handled? As one more component in the bill of materials, with its percentage and cost.
Related: production planning without Excel and quality management in Business Central.
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