# Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS): Molders, Processors and ERP Realities > Source: https://netray.co/manufacturing/plastics-industry-association-molders-ecosystem > Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems. > Section: Manufacturing Hubs ## Short answer The Plastics Industry Association, known as PLASTICS and formerly the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI), represents the full US plastics supply chain, from resin and machinery suppliers to molders and recyclers. Most shop-level readers are injection molders, extruders and thermoformers, whose main systems problems are quoting from tooling and cycle time, tracking resin lots and connecting machines to the ERP. ## Kind association ## Country United States ## Area Plastics processing, molding and materials ## Intro The Plastics Industry Association, known as PLASTICS and formerly the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI), represents the full US plastics supply chain, from resin and machinery suppliers to molders and recyclers. Most shop-level readers are injection molders, extruders and thermoformers, whose main systems problems are quoting from tooling and cycle time, tracking resin lots and connecting machines to the ERP. ## Industries ### Injection molding **Detail:** Custom and proprietary molders running presses of many tonnages for automotive, medical, consumer, electrical and packaging parts, with tooling that is either owned or customer-held. ### Extrusion and thermoforming **Detail:** Profiles, sheet, film, pipe and formed packaging, where material yield, scrap and line speed drive profitability. ### Blow molding **Detail:** Bottles, containers and hollow parts produced from resin through extrusion or injection blow processes. ### Tooling and mold making **Detail:** Mold builders and tool rooms that make and maintain molds, often as a separate quoting and project-tracking operation. ### Recycling and compounding **Detail:** Reprocessors and compounders producing recycled or modified resin, with strict lot tracking and material testing needs. ## Ecosystem ### Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) **Type:** association **Note:** US trade association for the plastics supply chain, formerly the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI), headquartered in Washington, D.C. ### NPE: The Plastics Show **Type:** trade show **Note:** A large plastics industry trade show organised by PLASTICS and held in Orlando, Florida, on a three-year cycle. ### ANSI/PLASTICS B151.1 **Type:** standard body **Note:** American National Standard for the safety of horizontal injection molding machines, developed through the association. ### Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) **Type:** professional society **Note:** A separate professional society for plastics engineers with technical divisions and conferences. ### ASTM International Committee D20 on Plastics **Type:** standard body **Note:** Develops test methods and specifications for plastic materials. ### Penn State Behrend and UMass Lowell plastics programs **Type:** university **Note:** Both universities are well known for plastics engineering and technology education. ### EUROMAP interfaces **Type:** standard body **Note:** Interface recommendations widely used to connect injection molding machines to MES and data collection systems. ## Requirements - ISO 9001 quality systems - IATF 16949 and PPAP for automotive parts - ISO 13485 and FDA 21 CFR 820 for medical device components - FDA food contact material rules (21 CFR) for packaging and food-related parts - UL 94 flammability ratings and UL recognised materials for electrical parts - RoHS and REACH material declarations - ANSI/PLASTICS B151.1 machine safety and lockout practices - Resin lot traceability and certificates of analysis ## Sections ### What molders and processors make and for whom **Body:** Molders supply parts to automotive tiers, medical device companies, appliance and consumer brands, electrical and electronics firms, and packaging customers. Some run customer-owned molds and build to forecast, while others sell parts with their own tooling and compete on speed and price. Profitability depends on cycle time, scrap, press utilisation, resin cost pass-through and how fast a mold changeover can be done, all of which need clean data. ### Quoting and estimating realities **Body:** A molding quote combines part weight, resin price and regrind assumptions, cycle time, cavitation, press tonnage and hourly rate, secondary operations, packaging and tooling amortisation. Small changes in cycle time or scrap assumptions move the piece price noticeably. Typical failures are quotes built from optimistic cycle times, resin surcharges not tied to index changes, and tooling costs tracked outside the quote so the customer-held versus company-owned status gets lost. **Bullets:** - Record cycle time and scrap actuals by job and feed them back to quoting - Tie resin price to a revisable basis on every quote - Keep tooling ownership and maintenance status on the part record ### ERP, MES and machine data **Body:** Plastics shops often run ERP built for process and discrete manufacturing, such as Plex, DELMIAworks, Epicor Kinetic, Infor SyteLine/CloudSuite Industrial, Global Shop Solutions, NetSuite or Acumatica, sometimes with a separate MES for press monitoring. Press data is commonly collected through EUROMAP interfaces or PLC connections. Key ERP capabilities are lot-level resin traceability, mold and tool management, scheduling around mold availability and material drying, scrap and regrind accounting, and customer-specific labeling and packaging. ### Where private AI helps, and where it does not **Body:** Helpful uses include asking the ERP plain-language questions such as scrap by press and part, resin usage versus standard, jobs at risk of missing ship dates, or customer margin by program, and searching quality documents, setup sheets and corrective actions. Vendor AI inside the ERP or MES may be enough for simple reporting. AI should not set process parameters or release product on its own. When part drawings, resin specifications and customer pricing are sensitive, models can run on your own servers, with read-only access by default and human approval for any change in the ERP. ## Faq ### What is the Plastics Industry Association? **Answer:** PLASTICS is the US trade association for the plastics industry supply chain, including resin suppliers, machinery makers, processors and recyclers. It was formerly known as the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) and organises the NPE trade show. ### What is NPE? **Answer:** NPE: The Plastics Show is a large international plastics trade show organised by the Plastics Industry Association. It is held in Orlando, Florida, on a three-year cycle and covers machinery, materials and processing technology. ### What ERP do injection molders use? **Answer:** Molders use a range of systems including Plex, DELMIAworks, Epicor Kinetic, Infor SyteLine, Global Shop Solutions and NetSuite. The deciding factors are lot traceability for resin, mold management, scheduling and integration with press data. ### How do molders build an injection molding quote? **Answer:** They combine part weight, resin cost, regrind assumptions, cycle time, cavities, press rate, secondary operations, packaging and tooling amortisation. Using actual cycle times and scrap from past jobs makes the quote more reliable. ## Search terms plastics industry association, NPE plastics show, injection molding quote, injection molding quoting software, injection molding ERP, plastics manufacturing ERP, injection molding troubleshooting guide, EUROMAP injection molding MES --- Talk to an engineer: https://netray.co/contact?intent=erp_ai | Machine catalog: https://netray.co/agent/catalog.json