It would be hard to imagine any man-made material used more widely in today's world than plastic. From automobiles to medical equipment, electronics to furniture, and adhesives to footwear, plastic is an obvious presence in almost every facet of daily life.

And while its products enjoy the distinction of unmatched versatility and indespensability, the industry also enjoys an above-average growth rate compared to other manufacturing industries. But despite these distinctions, companies in the plastics industry remain subject to the complexities of doing business the modern marketplace.

Although the industry growth rate remains positive, the competition remains high, so companies must constantly strive for technological innovations in order to keep pace. Additionally, companies are being forced to expand into new markets, such as Southeast Asia and China, and to internationalize all aspects of their business. And having to support sophisticated equipment and specialized manufacturing processes – compounding, injection molding, and extrusion to name just a few – only increases the complexity.

Dealing with these modern pressures while responding to the age-old challenge of maintaining margins and profitability is no easy task.

SAP Solutions for Success

Success in today's business environment takes controlling costs and increasing efficiencies in the way you make and move your product. And in the plastics industry, where companies produce an enormous variety of products, success depends even more on making and moving yours more efficiently. As a result, a growing number of companies in the industry are focusing efforts on improving business processes and increasing supply chain efficiencies to strengthen their ability to thrive.

SAP offers comprehensive solutions for optimizing all business processes in the plastics industry. SAP solutions provide insight into, and support for, a complete range of key industry processes – production, sales, transportation planning, distribution, asset planning, and maintenance – as well as administrative processes associated with financial and human resources.

SAP industry-focused solutions also provide the functionality you need to address these specific industry concerns:

• Intercompany process management (including cross-plant planning and international sales)
• Subcontracting
• Batch management and tracing
• Sequencing issues and optimization
• Reuse and trim optimization
• Tools management

Solutions for Your Small, Midsize, or Large Enterprise

SAP is a proven provider of solutions that can address the needs of business of all sizes. So when it comes to achieving solutions that meet the specific needs of your small, midsize, or large enterprise, you can count on SAP to help make your business as versatile as the products your industry makes.