Häufig gestellte Fragen
What must an ERP for plastics processing be able to do?
Beyond the classic ERP functions such as purchasing, warehousing, orders and invoicing, an ERP for injection moulding, extrusion or blow moulding needs industry-specific modules: tool and mould management with shot counters, service lives and maintenance intervals, recipe and material management for compounds, colour mixes and regranulate shares, as well as end-to-end batch traceability from granulate goods receipt to the finished product. Machine data collection (BDE/MDE) is central, taking over cycle times, good and scrap quantities and downtimes from the machine as automatically as possible. For regulated end customers in automotive or medical technology, requirements for traceability and quality documentation are added, frequently combined with EDI for delivery call-offs. Which of these building blocks are really needed depends on the process and the customer structure and should be prioritised in the requirements specification beforehand.
How is the injection moulding machine connected to the ERP (EUROMAP, OPC UA)?
For connecting injection moulding machines to higher-level MES and ERP systems, the EUROMAP 77 standard has become established — an OPC UA-based interface for injection moulding machines that replaces the file-based predecessor EUROMAP 63. EUROMAP 77 is maintained within the joint working group of EUROMAP, VDMA and the OPC Foundation and is identical in content to the OPC 40077 companion specification. The advantage is vendor-independent communication: machines from different suppliers such as Arburg, Engel or KraussMaffei can be connected via a uniform interface instead of maintaining a separate isolated solution for each machine. In practice, an MES frequently handles machine-level data capture via OPC UA and passes aggregated data on to the ERP; legacy machines can in some cases be integrated via retrofit gateways.
How does an ERP support traceability and the recyclate obligations of the EU Packaging Regulation (PPWR)?
An ERP documents seamless batch traceability from material receipt through tool, machine and cycle to delivery, which is indispensable for regulated industries such as automotive and medical technology. With the EU Packaging Regulation (PPWR, Regulation 2025/40), recyclate shares are also gaining importance: from 2030, minimum quotas for recycled content in plastic packaging apply, staggered by application, with a further increase from 2040. For packaging manufacturers this means that virgin material and regranulate shares must be cleanly mapped and verifiable in master data and recipes, since the regulation also provides for labelling and evidence obligations regarding material composition. As detailed rules and delegated acts are still taking shape, processors should review the requirements on an ongoing basis; the ERP provides the data foundation for this but does not replace a case-by-case legal assessment.
What does an ERP for plastics processing cost?
Realistic total costs for a plastics processing ERP in the mid-market range roughly between 280,000 and 1,300,000 euros over the first three to five years, depending heavily on user count, sites and depth of customisation. Industry-specific building blocks such as injection moulding MES integration and tool management typically add around 80,000 to 220,000 euros on top. On-premise licence models additionally incur annual maintenance and update fees of typically 18 to 22 percent of the licence costs, while cloud models are usually billed as a subscription per user per month. As the ranges vary considerably by vendor and project scope, these figures should be understood as orientation; a reliable calculation only emerges from the specific requirements specification. More in our guide ERP costs.
How long does implementing a plastics ERP take?
Mid-market ERP implementations in plastics processing typically take around 11 to 22 months, while larger multi-site or corporate projects can require 30 to 48 months. A particularity of the industry is the migration of tool and mould master data including service life and lifetime tracking, which often takes 3 to 5 months because much of this data still exists on paper or is scattered across systems. Roughly 60 percent of the project duration goes to concept work, customising and data migration, and around 40 percent to testing, training and the productive roll-out. Structured preparation noticeably shortens the timeline; our ERP implementation checklist provides orientation.
Cloud or on-premise for plastics processors?
Both operating models are widespread in the industry, and the choice depends on the customisation needs and the IT strategy. Cloud solutions are gaining importance for smaller and mid-sized deployments because they offer lower upfront investment and predictable running costs, with updates applied centrally. On-premise remains the first choice where highly individual processes, deep machine and MES integrations or particular data sovereignty requirements are paramount. Especially for machine-level data capture in production, latency and connection stability are a practical criterion that often favours hybrid architectures. You will find a weighing of the pros and cons at Cloud vs on-premise.