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What Dynamics 365 for Plastics Manufacturing Does for Your Business
Dynamics 365 helps plastics manufacturers manage purchasing, raw materials, production, quality checks, inventory, shipping and finances in one system. It supports processes such as moulding, extrusion, blow moulding, thermoforming and compounding, while tracking material costs from resin purchase to finished parts.
Production errors can quickly affect costs and quality. For example, a four-cavity mould running on a 30 second cycle can produce 480 parts per hour. A mislabelled resin batch, delayed colour change or unrecorded regrind can therefore affect hundreds of parts before anyone notices.
Dynamics Square recommends two Dynamics 365 products for plastics manufacturers. The right choice depends on your production processes, plant size and operational needs.
Business Central suits custom moulders, extruders and thermoformers that make a defined range of products at one or a few sites. It supports production orders, scrap recording, resin lot tracking, quality inspections, machine schedules and material planning.
Supply Chain Management suits compounders, blenders and manufacturers managing complex production across several plants. It supports formula-based production, batch tracking, regrind recovery, production scheduling, equipment maintenance and shop floor reporting.
Customer approvals and regulatory compliance depend on your quality processes, testing and supplier documents. Dynamics 365 helps maintain the material batch records, inspection results and production history needed to support these requirements. The following sections explain the key features.
Find the Right Platform for Your PlantWhat UK Rules Ask of a Plastics Manufacturer's Records
Four areas of UK law and customer requirements shape the records plastics manufacturers must maintain. These records support packaging reports, food contact compliance, customer audits and material traceability. An ERP system helps organise this information but does not replace legal advice or established quality procedures.
Plastic Packaging Tax
Plastic Packaging Tax may apply to UK made or imported packaging containing less than 30% recycled plastic. The rate is £228.82 per tonne. Businesses reaching the threshold must register, keep required records and complete due diligence checks. Recording recycled and virgin material weights for each job supports accurate tax reporting.
Packaging Producer Responsibility
Under packaging producer responsibility rules, businesses must register with the environmental regulator and report packaging they supply. Moulders and film manufacturers serving brand owners may need to provide packaging weights and material types. Keeping this information by product or job helps customers prepare reports about packaging placed on the market.
Plastics That Touch Food
UK food contact rules cover plastics that touch food, alongside safety and manufacturing practice requirements. Suppliers may need a written declaration naming the manufacturer, describing the material and confirming compliance. Trading Standards or Environmental Health officers may request evidence. Material specifications, supplier certificates and batch records help teams assemble documents.
Customer Quality Requirements
Automotive customers expect suppliers to follow IATF 16949 requirements and may request production part approval process (PPAP) submissions. Medical and consumer goods customers may ask for batch traceability and material certificates. Linking resin lots to inspections, production orders and shipments helps teams identify parts and respond during audits or complaints.
Materials and Resin Lots
Track resin, masterbatch, additives, fillers and packaging by item and lot number, covering bags, octabins, tanker loads and silo deliveries.
Link material lots to production orders and finished product batches, helping teams identify which raw materials went into each part.
Trace supplier lots forward to finished products and customers, or backward from a defective part to the resin batch involved.
Configure incoming resin inspections, certificate checks and material holds through suitable quality tools, with unit conversions for kilograms, bags and parts.
Formulas, Batches and Quality
Business Central production bills of materials support dated versions and certification status, helping teams use approved material lists for production and planning.
Supply Chain Management supports approved formulas, batch quantities, percentage-based ingredients, and co products or by products from production runs.
Record batch test results, such as melt flow and moisture, and reserve or combine suitable batches based on product attributes.
Supply Chain Management quality orders and sampling plans support regular testing, including first piece inspections and checks during production.
Planning, Moulds and Machines
Set machine capacity, working calendars and production steps, including setup and running times for each operation.
Both products support material planning, while Supply Chain Management adds broader master planning to turn demand into purchasing and production proposals.
Record presses and moulds as assets, then use Supply Chain Management to schedule maintenance by time or usage, such as machine shots.
Supply Chain Management shop floor tools let operators report production progress directly from the factory floor.
Scrap, Waste and Reporting
Set expected scrap allowances in material lists and production steps to account for material waste and reduced output during manufacturing.
Record actual scrap by operation in Business Central, using reason codes where configured and keeping rejected quantities separate from good output.
Supply Chain Management can return recovered regrind to inventory as a co product or by product, with costs allocated as configured.
Use Power BI and Excel to analyse scrap rates, production yields and product margins using shared business data.
Business Central or Supply Chain Management for Plastics Manufacturing
Dynamics Square offers two Dynamics 365 options for plastics manufacturers, Business Central and Supply Chain Management, with the right choice depending on your production processes, plant size and operational needs.
Choose Business Central if:
- You make products using established material lists and production steps.
- Moulding, extrusion or thermoforming takes place at one or a few plants.
- You need resin lot tracking, incoming material checks and scrap recording.
- Your production relies on fixed material lists and standard production orders.
Choose Supply Chain Management if:
- You blend or compound materials using formulas with set proportions.
- You recover regrind or other by products for reuse, resale or further processing.
- You need maintenance schedules based on mould or machine usage, such as shot counts.
- You manage several plants, companies or currencies, or need operators to record production progress directly in the system.
| Aspects | Business Central | Supply Chain Management |
|---|---|---|
| Production style | Production orders built from BOMs and routings (Premium licence) | Process manufacturing from formulas, alongside discrete production orders |
| Recipe control | BOM versions carrying a certification status | Formulas that are approved, then activated for use |
| Lot tracking | Lot numbers assigned through item tracking codes | Batch numbers holding attributes, with merge and attribute-based reservation |
| Planning | MRP plus work and machine centres on calendars | Master planning with finite capacity scheduling |
| Scrap handling | Allowance percentages on BOM and routing lines; scrap codes in the output journal | Allowances on formula and BOM lines; scrap reported from the shop floor |
| Co-products and by-products | Set up by your implementation team | Built in, with cost allocation across outputs |
| Mould and press upkeep | Fixed assets, or a partner maintenance app | Asset Management with plans driven by counters |
| Quality control | Quality Management with lot blocking | Quality orders, sampling plans and non-conformance cases |
| Group structure | A single operating site | Several legal entities, sites and currencies |
| Starting licence (UK) | Premium: £84.60/user/month | Standard: £165/user/month |
Blenders, dryers, presses, scales and label printers connect to Dynamics 365 through integrations or partner tools. During discovery, Dynamics Square identifies each device and defines the data it sends and receives, keeping material, batch and production details consistent across machines and labels.
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What Is the Best ERP for Plastics Manufacturing?
A custom moulder making 300 parts, a compounder blending materials to specific formulas and a packaging manufacturer running several production lines have different needs. The right ERP for plastics manufacturing should match your products, production methods and plant operations.
Dynamics Square assesses your moulding, extrusion or compounding processes, product range, number of plants, regrind recovery, mould maintenance and customer audit requirements. Choosing a system that exceeds your needs can add cost and complexity, while a basic system may leave formula records, scrap reports and tooling maintenance in spreadsheets.
Book Your Free Fit AssessmentDynamics 365 Implementation for Plastics Manufacturers: How Dynamics Square Does It
Dynamics Square follows Microsoft's Success by Design approach for plastics ERP implementation in the UK. Early workshops define how materials and scrap are recorded because these details affect production costs and reporting.
Discover
Dynamics Square examines your plant from material receiving to regrinding, learning how your team handles resin, tooling and production waste.
Initiate
At this stage, we confirm the project scope, select the right ERP system and assign owners for product, formula and tooling records.
Implement
Dynamics Square configures material records, batch tracking, production steps, scrap codes and costing. The team then imports product, supplier and open order data and checks it against your existing records.
Prepare
Dynamics Square trains supervisors and operators to run production jobs from resin receipt to dispatch. Your team also tests whether one resin batch can be traced to every customer who received the finished products.
Operate
At this stage, we support your team after launch as new tools arrive, materials change and customer or regulatory audits take place.
Dynamics 365 for Plastics Manufacturing Pricing in the UK
Prices below come from Microsoft's 2026 UK list, in pounds before VAT. Partner products for scales, blenders or mould monitoring, along with the proportion of full to occasional users, move the final total.
Dynamics 365 Business Central
It comes with finance, sales, purchasing, inventory and lot tracking.
It is the licence a production plant needs for production orders, BOMs, routings, MRP and Quality Management.
It is for colleagues who look things up, approve requests or make small edits.
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management
It comes with formulas, master planning, quality orders and Asset Management.
It is everything that Standard is plus advanced analytics and financial planning.
A single-site plastics manufacturer typically needs a simpler Business Central implementation, while a multi-site operation using Supply Chain Management requires more extensive setup. Costs depend on the number of plants, the complexity of production formulas and the amount of product and maintenance data that needs transferring.
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Why UK Moulders, Extruders and Compounders Work with Us
60+ Manufacturing implementations and a team of 35+ manufacturing and supply chain consultants bring practical industry knowledge to your ERP project.
Dynamics Square starts by understanding how your plant handles resin, colour changes, regrind and tooling. These details help shape a system around your actual production processes and material costs.
You receive one clear product recommendation, with reasons based on your needs. If Business Central fits your plant, we explain why. If Supply Chain Management suits your operations better, we explain that choice too.
Our consultants hold Microsoft certifications across both products, helping you compare their capabilities based on practical implementation experience.
Support continues after launch through new product introductions, resin substitutions, mould changes and customer audits. This helps your team keep production records accurate as operations change.
Customers expect deliveries and paperwork to match their orders. Dynamics Square helps your team maintain reliable material, quality and shipment records to meet those expectations.
Talk to a Plastics ERP SpecialistYes, Dynamics 365 helps plastics manufacturers manage purchasing, raw materials, production, quality checks, inventory, shipping and finances in one system. Business Central suits moulders, extruders and thermoformers with established products across a few sites. Supply Chain Management suits formula-based processors and businesses managing several plants, complex scheduling and equipment maintenance. Power BI and Excel help teams analyse shared business data.
Yes, Business Central uses production bills of materials to define the materials needed for each product, with versions and approval controls where configured. Supply Chain Management supports formulas with fixed quantities or ingredient percentages. It can also manage co products, by products and batch test results, such as moisture or melt flow. These features help manufacturers control recipes and maintain consistent production quality.
Yes, Dynamics 365 can track resin, masterbatch and additives using lot or batch numbers. Production records connect the materials used with the resulting parts, while inventory and shipping records help trace finished goods to customers. Teams can trace a supplier's resin batch forward to affected products or investigate a returned part back to its source material. Unit conversions support stock records in kilograms, bags or boxes.
Yes, both solutions help manufacturers plan for expected material waste and record actual scrap. Business Central supports scrap recording through production output journals, with reason codes where configured. Supply Chain Management offers shop floor reporting and can return recovered regrind to inventory as a co product or by product, depending on the setup. These records help analyse waste by product, work centre and cause. Recycled content claims require separate evidence and must follow applicable UK guidance, including the Competition and Markets Authority's Green Claims Code.
Business Central Premium suits manufacturers using established material lists and production steps across a few sites. Supply Chain Management is worth considering for formula-based production, valuable by products, multiple companies and more advanced maintenance or shop floor reporting. Dynamics Square assesses your products, production methods and plant requirements before recommending the most suitable system.