Packaging Manufacturing CRM

A flexible packaging structure is several films bonded together — PET, LDPE, BOPP, aluminium foil, metallised PET, nylon and others in varying combinations. Each layer has a thickness and a density, which together give its GSM. Each contributes a share of the total structure weight. On top of that sit printing wastage, pouch wastage, manufacturing cost per kilogram and margin.

Getting that wrong by a few percent on a large order is the difference between a profitable job and a loss-making one. It was being calculated by hand.

Quotations were written in Word, sales orders in Excel, and nothing linked them. There was no shared customer history, so the rate quoted to a customer eighteen months ago was findable only by whoever remembered sending it. Packing lists and quality certificates were rebuilt by hand for every single shipment.

The rate calculator is the core of the system. It handles multi-layer structures with automatic GSM and percentage contribution per layer, configurable printing and pouch wastage, manufacturing cost and margin, with a pouch calculator underneath it converting to rate per pouch. Structure templates cover the combinations they quote most often, so a common two-layer or barrier laminate is a starting point rather than a blank sheet.

Everything downstream flows from an accepted rate: quotation, sales order, production, packing, dispatch and invoice, each carrying data forward from the last rather than being retyped.

Rather than emailing a PDF and hoping, the system generates a rate card at its own link. The customer opens it on any device without logging in, reviews the rates, and either accepts — giving their name and designation — or rejects with a reason.

The acceptance is recorded against the rate, which means the question of what was agreed and by whom has a documented answer. One card can carry several products at different rates, and links expire after a validity window so an old quote cannot be accepted months later at a price that no longer works.

Packing lists are roll-by-roll: the operator enters each roll's gross weight, core and tare are deducted automatically, and totals for rolls, gross and net weight are summed without a calculator. The output matches the format Antilla already used, because a document their customers recognise is worth more than a tidier one they do not.

Certificates of Analysis cover twelve quality parameters — coil width, repeat length, grammage, bond strength, seal strength, coefficient of friction and others. Specification ranges are defined per parameter, QC enters the observed values, and the system marks each pass or fail rather than leaving that judgement to whoever is typing.

Both accept an Excel upload, so lab data and roll weights that already exist in a spreadsheet do not have to be keyed in twice.

Not every order is made in-house. Job work orders track material issued to a vendor against finished goods received back, with expected output compared to actual and the variance logged. A single order can be split across several vendors.

The system supports multiple business entities in one installation. Each keeps its own customers, vendors, product catalogue, numbering sequences and company profile. Users switch between entities from the top bar, and each user is restricted to the entities they belong to.