# ERP for Rubber Molding and Extrusion Manufacturers: What to Require > Source: https://netray.co/resources/erp-for-rubber-molding-and-extrusion-manufacturers > Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems. > Section: Knowledge Base ## Short answer ERP for rubber molding and extrusion manufacturers: what to require for compound lots, cure data, mold tracking, scrap and costing, and how common systems compare. ## Category erp-general ## Content **Intro:** The best ERP for a rubber molder or extruder is the one that handles compound lot traceability and shelf life, mold and die tracking, press-level scheduling, scrap by reason, and yield-based costing, because generic job-shop modules usually miss at least two of those. Systems such as DELMIAworks, Plex, Epicor Kinetic, Infor SyteLine, NetSuite and JobBOSS can all be configured for rubber, but how much is native and how much is customization differs. Use this as a requirements list before you demo. **Sections:** #### Compound Lots, Shelf Life and Traceability **Body:** Uncured rubber has a limited shelf life and cure behavior changes with age, so the ERP must track lot, mix date, expiry or re-test date, storage condition and rheometer results. It should block issue of expired or quarantined compound to a job and keep genealogy from compound batch to finished lot for recalls and customer audits. In regulated segments such as automotive under IATF 16949, medical, food contact or aerospace, this traceability is not optional. Check whether the system supports lot attributes such as cure curve values and whether it can enforce first-expired-first-out picking. **Bullets:** - Lot, mix date, expiry and re-test tracking - Quality hold and release status on compound - Genealogy from compound lot to finished lot and customer shipment - FEFO picking for compounds and adhesives #### Molds, Dies and Press Scheduling **Body:** A mold is an asset, a routing requirement and a maintenance subject at once. The ERP should know which molds fit which presses, cavities per mold, hours or shots since last cleaning, and who owns the tool. Scheduling must respect press tonnage, platen size, mold availability and cure time, and extruders need die and line scheduling with start-up and changeover times. Many shops schedule on whiteboards because ERP finite scheduling is not set up to include mold constraints. Ask vendors to show a schedule with mold and press constraints, not just work center capacity. #### Costing, Yield and Scrap **Body:** Rubber costing hinges on shot weight, cure time and yield. The system should allow operations to be costed on press time per cavity, apply scrap factors by reason, and report actual-versus-standard material usage by job and compound. Support for co-products and by-products is useful for extrusion trim and rework. If the ERP cannot report variance by mold and compound, your standard cost drifts until quotes are wrong. Look for flexible unit of measure conversions, because compound is bought in pounds, issued in pounds and parts are counted in pieces. #### Quality, Compliance and Customer Documents **Body:** Expect to produce certificates of conformance with durometer, tensile, compression set and specific gravity data, PPAP packages for automotive, and FDA or NSF material statements for food and water applications. The ERP or its quality module should hold inspection plans by part, store results against lots and print certificates from that data. Weak integration here means quality staff retype data from rheometer and tensile test reports. For defense work, add CMMC and ITAR considerations to hosting decisions. #### How to Choose, and When Add-Ons Are Enough **Body:** A small molder with a handful of presses and mostly repeat orders may be well served by an affordable job-shop system plus spreadsheets for compound and cure data. A larger or regulated shop usually needs a process-manufacturing-capable ERP. Whichever you pick, test with your own data: one real mold, one real compound lot, one real recall trace. If you already run an ERP, adding private AI over it to answer questions about scrap, cure time and quote history is often a cheaper first step than replacing the system. **Cta:** Netray works on top of the ERP you already run, including SyteLine, NetSuite and LN, to answer questions about lots, scrap and job history without a rip-and-replace. **Faq:** #### What ERP do rubber molding companies use? **Answer:** Rubber molders run a mix of DELMIAworks, Plex, Epicor, Infor SyteLine, NetSuite, JobBOSS, E2 and industry-specific systems, often with spreadsheets for compound and cure data. The right choice depends on size, regulatory needs and how much lot traceability and scheduling complexity the shop has. #### Does ERP track rubber compound shelf life? **Answer:** Only if lot expiry and quality status are configured. Many ERPs support expiry dates and lot attributes, but you must set them up and enforce FEFO issues and holds. Without that, shelf life lives on labels and in people's heads. #### Can ERP schedule rubber presses with mold constraints? **Answer:** Most can model machines and tooling as resources, but doing it well requires accurate cure-time standards, mold-to-press compatibility and changeover times. Many shops need configuration or an add-on scheduler to make a finite schedule that respects mold availability. ## Related Slugs - how-to-quote-custom-rubber-molded-parts - compression-vs-transfer-vs-injection-rubber-molding-cost - rubber-compound-cost-and-scrap-calculation - flash-and-deflash-cost-rubber-molded-parts ## Search terms ERP for rubber manufacturers, ERP for rubber molding, rubber extrusion ERP software, ERP compound lot traceability, best ERP for rubber products, rubber manufacturing software --- Talk to an engineer: https://netray.co/contact?intent=erp_ai | Machine catalog: https://netray.co/agent/catalog.json