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Plastics and packaging

Inventory software for the plastic industry

Know how many bags of HDPE are left for the night shift, how much regrind is piled beside the grinder, and how many jerry cans are packed and ready for the Saltillo truck.

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In short

SimpleERP is inventory software for plastic manufacturers. HDPE and PP granules, masterbatch and regrind are counted in kg, cans, containers and closures in pieces, each per warehouse, and everything is valued at weighted average cost.

Illustration of stock on hand by warehouse at average cost, with a low-stock row highlighted and a movement ledger.

An inventory day at Sierra Polymers

At Sierra Polymers, HDPE and PP granules arrive in 25 kg bags from a polymer distributor in Monterrey, a truck at a time. Masterbatch in white, yellow and green comes in smaller bags. The shift supervisor drags bags to the hoppers all night, and in the morning nobody is sure how many are left.

Finished jerry cans are bagged in hundreds and stacked in the warehouse, containers go into cartons, and closures sit in sacks of five thousand. The owner wants to know before he confirms a buyer's order whether the polymer in the store will cover it.

How should a moulding unit set up its stock?

Give each product its own unit and keep three warehouses: a raw material store, the moulding floor, and a finished goods warehouse. Granules move to the floor with a transfer when the supervisor takes them for a shift.

  • Regrind is its own product in kg, so the grinder's output has a place in stock.
  • Physical counts of bags at month end, with a reason for any shortfall.
  • CSV import of products with opening stock per warehouse.
Product familyUnitKept inReorder pattern
HDPE blow grade granuleskgRaw material storeReorder level 3,000 kg, a truck when prices dip
PP injection grade granuleskgRaw material storeReorder level 2,000 kg
Masterbatch, white and colourskgRaw material storeReorder level 100 kg per colour
Regrind HDPE and PPkgMoulding floorNot bought; comes from the grinder
Jerry cans 5 litrepcsFinished goods warehouseKept at two weeks of the oil packers' lifting
Containers and closurespcs or thousandFinished goods warehouseMade to order for each buyer's month
Units, warehouses and reorder habits at Sierra Polymers.

What is the polymer in the store worth when prices move every fortnight?

Each distributor bill comes in at its own price, and SimpleERP keeps a weighted average. With 2,000 kg of HDPE at $1.30 and a new lot of 1,000 kg at $1.39, the average becomes $1.33 a kg and the store's HDPE is worth $3,990.

  • Stock value per warehouse as of today.
  • Granules issued at average cost to every work order.
  • Shortages from a count post to the books as a stock loss.

Illustration of stock on hand by warehouse at average cost, with a low-stock row highlighted and a movement ledger.

Granules, regrind and finished goods per warehouse with value.

How do I make sure the night shift does not run out of granules?

Set a reorder level on each grade of polymer and masterbatch. The stock list shows what is at or below it, and planning a work order shows what the store is short of for that run.

  • Purchase orders grouped by supplier from the rows you choose.
  • Distributor bills receive granules into the raw material store.
  • Transfers to the moulding floor keep the store figure honest.

One system

What it connects to

Granules come in on distributor bills, work orders turn them into cans and closures, and invoices send the goods out.

Honest limits

What SimpleERP does not do yet

  • No batch, lot, serial or expiry tracking, and no barcode scanning
  • Weighted average cost only; there is no FIFO
  • No automatic reorder suggestions: the reorder level shows what is low, you decide what to buy
  • No bag-by-bag or lot-by-lot record of polymer grades; each grade is one quantity in kg per warehouse
  • No automatic conversion between kg and pieces; finished goods weight is not tracked

Getting started

Start with inventory

  1. Sign up with your email

    Name, email and a password. No card for the seven-day trial.

  2. Tell us about the business

    Pick your country and, if you are registered, type your tax number. Accounts, tax rates, units, roles and numbering are seeded for that country.

  3. Add products and opening stock

    Add each polymer grade and masterbatch in kg, regrind as its own product, and your cans, containers and closures in pcs, with opening stock per warehouse.

  4. Post a bill and an invoice

    Stock rises on the purchase bill and falls on the invoice, at weighted average cost, with nothing to count by hand.

FAQ

Questions, answered

How do I bring regrind into stock?

Make regrind a product in kg. When the grinder's output is weighed, bring it in with a stock adjustment and a reason. Once it is in stock, a BOM can use it as a component alongside virgin HDPE, and it is issued at its own average cost.

We count closures in thousands. Will stock show that?

Yes, if the product's unit is thousand. Every bill, work order and invoice then uses thousands, and the stock list shows how many thousand are in the warehouse. Use one unit per product so the numbers never mix.

Can I see stock of a buyer's printed containers separately?

Yes. A container printed with one buyer's brand is its own product, such as PP container 500 ml Norteño Snacks print, so its stock is never sold to anyone else by mistake.

Does the store keeper need a computer?

No. SimpleERP runs in a phone's browser, so the store keeper can look up a grade, post a transfer to the floor, or record a bag count beside the hoppers, with a role that limits what else he sees.

Related

See how inventory works in SimpleERP for plastics and packaging

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