Production scheduling for plastics processors
Plastics manufacturing production scheduling software
SkyPlanner APS turns your orders, machines, molds, materials and shifts into one finite-capacity schedule. It puts each job on a machine that can take its mold, sequences colors and materials so changeovers cost as little time as possible, and rebuilds the plan in seconds when a press stops, resin arrives late or a customer pulls an order forward. It integrates with any ERP or MES through its open REST API.
- Mold-aware scheduling
- Finite-capacity scheduling
- Any ERP or MES via REST API
- From 199 € / month
99.2%
delivery reliability, Piristeel
98%
delivery reliability, up from around 50%, KJH-Comp
90%
more efficient production, Laboratory & Allied
100%
delivery reliability since 2021, Opes Corporation
Results reported by SkyPlanner customers Piristeel, KJH-Comp, Laboratory & Allied and Opes Corporation. Read all SkyPlanner APS reviews
Why plastics production is hard to schedule
Machines, molds and colors all have to line up
A molding or extrusion plant can only run a job when the right machine, the right mold and the right material are free at the same time, and the order of jobs decides how much of each shift goes to setups and purging.
The mold is a resource of its own
One mold exists once. If two orders need it, they cannot run at the same time on two presses, and a mold in maintenance blocks every job that depends on it.
Not every mold fits every machine
Tonnage, platen size and auxiliary equipment decide which presses can take which mold. The plan has to respect that before it can balance the load.
Color and material order matters
Light to dark needs a short purge. Dark to light can mean a long purge, a screw clean and a pile of scrap. The same goes for switching between resin grades on an extruder or a thermoforming line.
Resin and inserts must be there
A job cannot start before its resin, masterbatch, inserts or packaging arrive, and an assembly cannot start before its molded parts exist.
Machines run around the clock
Presses often run three shifts or continuously, while setup technicians and secondary operations follow different hours.
A spreadsheet cannot see the mold
A spreadsheet or ERP plans each press as if it had endless hours, and never notices that two orders need the same mold or that black is booked before natural. Every breakdown means hours of manual rework.
Plastics scheduling is what SkyPlanner does. It loads every press to its real hours, keeps each mold on one machine at a time, runs colors light to dark and rebuilds the plan in seconds when a press stops or resin is late.
Mold-aware, changeover-optimised sequencing
Right mold, right press, light to dark.
Every mold change and color purge is paid machine time with zero good parts. SkyPlanner keeps track of where each mold can run and sequences each machine so changeovers cost as little time as possible.
Molds as scheduled tools
Register molds and other tools, link them to the products that need them and to the machines that can take them. A shared mold cannot be in two places at once, so the schedule never plans it on two presses at the same time.
Color, resin and mold as properties
Tag products with properties such as color, material, mold or dimension, and define a changeover matrix for each machine: how long it takes to move from one value to another, in each direction.
Natural to black, not black to natural
Natural to black can be a short purge and black to natural a full clean. The AI scheduling engine groups similar jobs in succession and minimises total changeover time while still meeting due dates.
How SkyPlanner schedules a plastics plant
One plan for every press, mold and shift
SkyPlanner schedules to the machines, molds and materials you really have, and shows the same plan on the shop floor.
Finite capacity across machines, shifts and people
Each machine or workstation has its own shift calendar, whether it runs one shift or around the clock, and planned maintenance, mold service and breakdowns can be entered as exceptions. Personnel scheduling assigns setup technicians and operators to shifts and machines, so the plan never puts a mold change on a shift with nobody to do it.
- No job lands on a machine that is blocked, unstaffed or cannot take its mold
- Several plants scheduled together, with transfer times between sites
Resin, components and secondary operations
Resin and masterbatch become molded parts, and molded parts go on to printing, welding, assembly or packing. SkyPlanner handles multi-level bills of materials and sub-products, calculates material needs at every level and, with material-based scheduling on, starts a job only when its materials will be there. Secondary operations and outside work are scheduled like any other workstation in the flow.
- Need dates for resin and components flow back to your ERP
- Minimum degree of completion lets assembly start before the whole molding batch is done
Every press crew sees the same plan
Operators see their own work queue in a simple worker view or the SkyPlanner shop-floor app. They start, pause and complete jobs and report quantities and scrap as they go, so the schedule always reflects what has actually happened at the press.
Press down, resin late, order pulled forward
A stopped press does not stop the plan
When an order is added, a press goes down, a mold needs repair or a resin delivery is late, the Arcturus AI engine rebuilds the schedule in seconds. Lock jobs that must not move, raise priorities or fast-track an urgent order.
- Add a sales prospect as a simulated order and see the earliest realistic delivery date, without disturbing confirmed orders.
- See what accepting a rush order does to every other promise and every mold already booked.
- Quote ship dates from real press hours and mold bookings.
SkyPlanner handles the finite capacity scheduling and which machine each job goes to. It runs completely automatically.
Hannu Lahtinen, Managing Director, KJH-Comp Oy
Integrates with any ERP or MES
Items and resin stock stay in your ERP. Press schedules come from SkyPlanner.
SkyPlanner connects to all ERP and MES systems through its open REST API, including in-house systems. Orders and products flow in, planned times and material need dates flow back. It also runs standalone, so you can start scheduling before an integration is in place.
From your ERP
ERP · MES · CSV · Manual
- Sales orders & forecasts
- Products & routings
- Resin, components & stock
- Customers & due dates
SkyPlanner APS
Schedules production
- Machines
- Molds
- Shifts
- Changeovers
- Materials
- Priorities
- Schedule
Back to your ERP
ERP · Reports · Management
- Planned start & end times
- Material need dates
- Progress, quantities & scrap
- Delivery dates
- SAP S/4HANA
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Oracle NetSuite
- Infor
- Epicor
- IFS Cloud
- Sage X3
- Odoo
- DELMIAworks
- Plex Smart Manufacturing Platform
Where SkyPlanner fits
Used by plastics manufacturers of every size
From a single molding cell to multi-site groups. SkyPlanner runs injection molding, extrusion, thermoforming and blow molding alike, along with rubber products and composites, anywhere many products share presses, lines and molds.
Plastics and polymer segments
- Injection molding and custom molders
- Pipe, profile and sheet extrusion
- Film and blown film extrusion
- Thermoforming and vacuum forming
- Blow molding and plastic packaging
- Rubber and elastomer products
- Composites and fiber reinforced parts
- Technical parts for automotive and electronics
- Medical and consumer plastic products
Why SkyPlanner for plastics
Why molders and extruders choose SkyPlanner
SkyPlanner APS is AI production scheduling software for plastics manufacturers that want every press, mold and color change planned to real capacity, without spreadsheets and without waiting for an ERP project. It suits injection molders, extruders and thermoformers from a single cell to multi-site groups.
Molds planned like machines
Each mold is linked to its products and to the presses that can take it, so a shared mold is never booked on two presses at once and planned mold service is respected by every job that depends on it.
Light to dark, automatically
Per-machine changeover matrices with a time for each direction let the AI engine group colors and resin grades and cut purge and setup time while meeting due dates.
Replans in seconds
When a press goes down, a mold needs repair or resin arrives late, the Arcturus AI engine rebuilds the finite-capacity schedule in seconds.
Ship dates sales can trust
Enter a prospect as a simulated order and see its realistic delivery date from real press capacity, without moving a single confirmed order.
Runs today, connects to any ERP
Start standalone with CSV import or manual entry. The open REST API then connects SkyPlanner to any ERP or MES, built by Skycode or by your own developers.
Published price, free trial
From 199 € / month with 5 workstations included and 20 € per month per additional workstation. The 30-day free trial covers up to 20 workstations with no credit card, and the interface speaks 29 languages.
Security and data
SkyPlanner runs in the cloud on AWS. If your data needs to stay in a specific country, a dedicated server there is available by agreement. Data is backed up daily and backups are kept for 30 days. Users can sign in with Google or Microsoft accounts and two-factor authentication. A data processing agreement is available, and customer data is never used to train AI models.
Pricing
From 199 € / month
5 workstations included. Each additional workstation is 20 € per month. There is a free trial, and guided onboarding packages are available if you want help setting up machines, molds and changeover matrices.
Questions plastics manufacturers ask
Frequently asked questions
What is the best production scheduling software for plastics manufacturers?
Plastics scheduling software has to treat molds as limited resources, know which presses can take which mold, and sequence colors and resin grades with direction-dependent changeover times, all while replanning in seconds when a press stops. SkyPlanner APS does all of this with finite-capacity AI scheduling built for molding, extrusion and thermoforming plants. Pricing is published from 199 € / month, there is a 30-day free trial, and the open REST API integrates with any ERP or MES.
Is SkyPlanner a finite capacity scheduler for injection molding and extrusion?
Yes. SkyPlanner APS is an advanced planning and scheduling system that loads every press, extruder and thermoforming line only to the hours it really has, and treats each mold as a limited resource of its own. The Arcturus AI engine builds the schedule from your orders, molds, resin and shifts and replans it in seconds when a press stops.
How does SkyPlanner connect to SAP or Dynamics 365 in a molding plant?
Sales orders, products, routings, resin and component stock and due dates flow in from SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365 or any other ERP or MES through the open REST API, including in-house systems. Planned start and end times per press, resin need dates, reported quantities and scrap flow back. Skycode builds the integration, or your own developers use the public API documentation.
What stays in the ERP when a plastics processor schedules presses in SkyPlanner?
Items, resin and masterbatch stock, purchasing and costing stay in your ERP. SkyPlanner takes over the press level detail the ERP cannot see: which mold runs on which machine, in which color sequence and on which shift. Need dates for resin and components return to the ERP, so purchasing always buys against the real molding plan.
How quickly can a molding plant run its first schedule in SkyPlanner?
The same day. Start the 30-day free trial with up to 20 workstations and no credit card, then register your presses, molds and changeover times or work with demo data, and import products by CSV or manual entry. Your first press schedule runs before any integration exists, and onboarding workshops then tune mold compatibility and color matrices to your plant.
Is SkyPlanner suited to both a custom molder with a few presses and a multi-plant plastics group?
Yes. Plastics processors of every size use SkyPlanner, from a single extrusion line to groups that schedule several plants together with transfer times between sites. Pricing starts from 199 € / month with 5 workstations included and 20 € per month per additional workstation, and the interface in 29 languages lets operators in every country work in their own language.
Can SkyPlanner schedule molds and color changes?
Yes. Molds are managed as tools linked to products and to the machines that can use them, so a shared mold is never planned in two places at once. You tag products with properties such as color or material and define a changeover matrix per machine, with different times for each direction. The scheduler sequences jobs to minimise mold changes, purging and setup time while meeting due dates.
Can assembly and packing start before a whole molding batch is finished?
Yes. Molded parts flow into printing, welding, assembly or packing through multi-level bills of materials, and a minimum degree of completion lets the next operation start once enough parts are molded. With material-based scheduling on, no press job starts before its resin, masterbatch and inserts will be there, and operators report quantities and scrap from the shop-floor app so the plan follows the real press output.
More industries
Production scheduling in related industries
Sequence presses by colour, format and substrate, and plan dies and plates to capacity.
Plan machining, molding, cleanroom assembly, inspection and sterilization to real capacity.
Put your presses and molds on a real schedule
Send us a week of molding orders with your presses and molds. In a demo we schedule them, show the color sequence on each machine and the ship dates you can quote.
