How can plastics manufacturers manage frequent spec and color changes?

Software can connect configuration, product data, revisions, and production records so changes to dimensions, finishes, materials, or variants are controlled more clearly. This helps reduce confusion, obsolete stock, and unnecessary rework.

Can software help balance recycled content goals with quality?

Yes. Systems that combine traceability, quality controls, and product data can help track recycled inputs, document material history, and manage environmental targets without losing visibility across production.

How do plastics manufacturers compare profitability across products and plants?

The right system combines material, scrap, yield, overhead, and operational data so margins can be viewed by product, plant, or customer. This helps offset the impact of resin volatility and process variation.

What should manufacturers look for when running standard and custom work?

Look for software that supports mixed production models, customer-specific configuration, and coordinated planning. This makes it easier to manage repeat products and custom orders in one system.

Can plastics manufacturers improve decisions without separate systems?

Yes. Platforms that connect ERP, production, warehousing, product data, and analytics provide a more complete operational view. This helps teams identify issues faster and act on connected data.

Purpose-built plastics ERP software

Built to support material- and process-driven plastics manufacturing, our cloud-based ERP connects design, production, and quality – helping you reduce waste, improve compliance, and drive smarter, more profitable operations.

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Molten plastic in molds on an assembly line

Unique capabilities for our plastics ERP software

Support a wide range of low- and high-volume products, from formed components to bottles, foam, and hoses. Manage the full lifecycle from design through production, quality, and compliance. Control volatile raw material costs and link yield, scrap, and cost in one system to see the true margin impact of production decisions.

Design to customer specification

Design and build products to exact customer specifications with full lifecycle visibility. Configure dimensions, materials, finishes, and color variations with ease. Centralize product data, specifications, and engineering changes. Translate customer needs manufacturable product structures.

End-to-end plastics manufacturing control

Manage orders, materials, production, and financials in one system while coordinating planning, procurement, inventory, and shop-floor execution. Support make-to-order, make-to-stock, and hybrid models, and standardize processes across multi-site and multi-entity operations.

Batch tracking & traceability

Provide full traceability from raw materials to finished goods across plastics production. Track resin, additives, regrind, and finished goods by lot or batch. Maintain complete forward and backward genealogy across multi-step processes. Expertly handle recalls, compliance, and strict customer quality requirements.

Yield, scrap & regrind management

Monitor and control yield performance and material loss. Plan and report expected versus actual yield, and capture scrap, purge loss, and regrind as part of production reporting. Feed yield impacts directly into costing and planning to improve margin accuracy and support confident, margin-friendly decisions.

Bills of materials & routings

Define product structures and manufacturing processes with precision. Use multi-level BOMs that reflect resin blends, additives, and packaging, as well as routings for molding, extrusion, compounding, and finishing. Apply version control and workflows to manage revisions, align product data with execution, and reduce waste.

Production planning & sequencing

Optimize production schedules based on materials, tooling, and capacity constraints. Plan and sequence runs by material, color, mold, or machine to reduce changeovers, purging, and downtime. Align demand, capacity, and material availability to ensure reliable scheduling and maintain consistent production flow.

Tooling & mold resource management

Manage molds and tooling as constrained production resources. Sequence production by material, color, mold, or machine to minimize changeovers, purging, and manual scheduling. Track availability, usage cycles, and maintenance status. Prevent delays and use embedded PLM to streamline visibility across teams.

Materials & inventory management

Manage bulk resin, additives, regrind, work-in-process, and packaged inventory across the supply chain. Ensure lot-controlled and location-specific stock, and maintain visibility across materials and stages. Link inventory to production demand and material availability for more accurate planning and resource allotment.

Financial management & costing

Understand the true cost of production with clear, consistent margin visibility and standard and actual costing across all components. Capture material, labor, overhead, scrap, and yield impacts, including resin costs. Account for co-products in BOM planning to optimize material use and reduce excess.

Product quality management

Use advanced inspection and statistical process control to detect variation early. Analyze quality trends across batches, machines, materials, and production runs to identify root causes. Correlate quality with process parameters, yield, and scrap to reduce material loss – meeting customer and regulatory requirements.

Sustainability & regulatory compliance

Meet regulatory requirements and reduce environmental impact. Maintain audit-ready records for materials, production, and quality. Track your environmental footprint from design to delivery. Embed ESG goals into operational planning and reporting to boost compliance and drive continuous improvement.

Manufacturing automation & efficiency

Leverage automation, analytics, and process intelligence. Connect injection molding machines, robotics, and systems to monitor real-time data and performance. Identify bottlenecks, apply RPA and analytics to boost efficiency. Integrate with Infor MES and Infor Factory Track to capture operator instructions and production data.

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Solutions built for plastics manufacturers – at every stage of growth

ERP for SMB

Production-ready ERP without the enterprise cost

Run plastics manufacturing on a production-ready ERP without enterprise overhead. Support molding, extrusion, and compounding minus the heavy customization. Control material, yield, and scrap from day one with built-in tracking and accurate costing. Plan by machine, mold, and material availability to avoid overproduction.

Why it’s different

Not a lightweight system that breaks under process complexity. It avoids the cost and operational burden of traditional enterprise ERP while still supporting plastics-specific workflows.

ERP for enterprise

Enterprise-grade ERP for control, consistency, and scale

Run plastics manufacturing across multiple sites and entities with a unified ERP. Standardize processes while supporting intercompany production and inventory flows. Coordinate resin supply, tooling, and capacity across plants and regions – maintaining consistent costing by rolling up material, yield, scrap, and overhead to deliver a clear view of margins.

Why it’s different

Generic ERPs require heavy customization to handle plastics complexity at scale. This ERP is designed for process-driven manufacturing, so growth does not disrupt execution, costing, or control.

INFOR CLOUDSUITE SOLUTIONS

Fully integrated plastics software solutions

Discover our suite of plastic fabrication software – natively connected to ERP for visibility, quality, and control across operations.

Manufacturing execution system (MES)

Infor MES provides real-time visibility into molding, extrusion, and finishing operations by capturing actual production data, scrap, and downtime at the machine level. With standardized work instructions and built-in quality checks enforced directly on the shop floor, manufacturers gain greater consistency, traceability, and control across all production processes.

MES software

Warehouse management system (WMS)

Infor WMS delivers comprehensive control over bulk resin, additives, packaging, and finished goods across locations through accurate, lot-controlled inventory management. By supporting staging and material movement, it improves picking, storage, and shipping accuracy in high-volume environments. Materials remain fully tracked and controlled from receipt through production and final distribution.

WMS software

Enterprise performance management (EPM)

Infor EPM extends ERP data into planning and performance analysis, enabling manufacturers to model profitability across products, plants, and customers. By accounting for material costs, yield, and scrap drivers, it supports scenario planning for resin price volatility and capacity constraints. Infor EPM also strengthens forecasting, budgeting, and ESG tracking across complex, multi-site operations.

EPM software

Infor Factory Track

This manufacturing automation solution captures real-time production, material consumption, and labor data directly from molding, extrusion, and finishing operations. By recording scrap, rework, purge loss, and regrind at the point of production, it improves yield visibility and costing accuracy. Barcode driven transactions and guided workflows further enhance execution speed while maintaining tight operational control.

Infor Factory Track

Product lifecycle management (PLM)

Infor PLM can help you manage formulations, specifications, and approved material lists with full control over engineering changes and revisions. By providing a single source of truth for product structures and specifications across the entire lifecycle, it reduces scrap, errors, and obsolescence while ensuring continuous alignment between design and production.

PLM software

Industry cloud platform

The Infor Industry Cloud Platform seamlessly connects ERP, MES, PLM, WMS, and other systems – eliminating the need for complex point-to-point integrations. By unifying operational, quality, and supply chain data, it delivers a single, trusted view of plastics manufacturing performance. Built in process intelligence and AI driven insights help identify bottlenecks, process variation, and margin leakage, while automated workflows turn insights into action to enable continuous, targeted improvement.

Cloud platform

BENEFITS

Plastics ERP software with industry-specific benefits

Greater margin control

Account for yield loss, scrap, purge, and regrind directly in product costs. Track actual versus expected costs in real time and understand the true impact of production decisions. Make pricing, planning, and operational decisions based on accurate margin visibility across plastics manufacturing.

Reduced waste and scrap

Reduce material loss by planning and sequencing production to minimize changeovers and purging. Improve yield through tighter control of materials and processes, and reduce excess inventory and obsolete stock. Maintain better control of resin and material usage across production.

Improved production efficiency

Optimize scheduling and coordination across machines, molds, materials, and labor. Reduce changeovers, downtime, and maintenance disruptions, and improve overall equipment effectiveness. Maintain smoother production flow and more consistent output across all your operations.

Better quality and traceability

Get full lot and batch traceability from raw materials through production and shipment. Facilitate recalls, audits, and customer quality requirements with complete production history. Identify and resolve quality issues faster with accurate, connected data across processes.

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USE CASES

Plastics manufacturing software for real-world industry challenges

Managing material-intensive production

Plan and execute production based on material cost and availability. Coordinate resin, additives, and regrind with machine and mold capacity. Maintain control across molding, extrusion, and finishing operations to keep production aligned with material constraints.

Controlling yield, scrap, and regrind

Track expected versus actual yield by run, product, or batch. Capture scrap and regrind usage directly in production and costing – improving margin accuracy while reducing material loss across your whole manufacturing processes.

Sequencing production to reduce changeovers

Schedule production by material type, color, or tooling to minimize purging and downtime. Reduce setup time, stabilize throughput, and improve schedule reliability – without relying on manual planning or constant adjustments.

Ensuring material traceability

Track materials from receipt through production and shipment with full visibility. Support recalls, audits, and customer quality requirements. Maintain complete genealogy across multi-step processes to ensure traceability and compliance.

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CUSTOMER STORY

Ring Container saves 12,000 hours annually with AI-powered ERP

Ring Container is one of the leading plastic packaging manufacturers in North America. See how they’re using AI and automation in Infor CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise to revolutionize production and warehouse management. Now the company is able to save 12,000 hours annually, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction.

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If we were to imagine running our business today without the support of Infor tools, including artificial intelligence and enterprise automation, it would be challenging, if not inconceivable, given our company's growth. Our expansion relies heavily on these tools, as we don't grow with traditional resources but rather depend on leveraging advanced technologies to navigate and enhance our operations.

Michelle Kelley

IT Director, Ring Container

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Resources

Plastic fabrication resources

GARTNER® MAGIC QUADRANT

Infor named a Leader in cloud ERP

Find out why Infor was recognized as a leader for the fifth straight year in the 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Cloud ERP for Product-Centric Enterprises – driven by our commitment to future-focused innovation.

Read the report

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Explore all Infor solutions for the industrial manufacturing industry

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Purpose-built plastics ERP software