Machine and mold fit
A container can only run on machines that take its mold, head tooling, and trimming setup. Make that eligibility explicit per product rather than keeping it in the scheduler’s head.
Blow molding scheduling
Production scheduling for extrusion blow molding
Turn bottle and container orders into a machine-feasible schedule that accounts for which machines can run each container, your output per hour, the changeover minutes you enter for mold and color changes, and delivery dates.
30 days free · No credit card required · No automatic charge
Who this is for
Built for the people accountable for the next run
Production managers running a handful of blow molding machines with molds that mostly stay with one machine.
Schedulers juggling resin and color changes across HDPE, PP, or PET containers in a spreadsheet.
Plant managers who need a shared view of delivery risk and case-level traceability without an ERP project.
Real scheduling constraints
Open hours are not the same as usable capacity
Output per hour
Real output depends on cycle time and cavitation for each container on each machine. Enter the demonstrated containers per hour for each machine/product pair instead of one plant-wide rate.
Mold, resin, and color changes
Mold swaps, purges, and color changes take different amounts of time depending on what ran before. A natural-to-white switch is not the same as white-to-natural.
Shift calendars
Machines that run two shifts and machines that run around the clock need different usable hours, so a promise date has to come from each machine’s own calendar.
Order-to-schedule example
From demand to a traceable production run
- 1 · Capture the order
Order: 180,000 one-gallon natural HDPE jugs, due in eight production days, on a container that two machines are approved to run.
- 2 · Build the plan
RunMark considers only the two approved machines, sizes the run from each machine’s configured jugs-per-hour rate, and reserves the changeover minutes from whatever product runs before it on the chosen machine.
- 3 · Release and label
The scheduler sees the calculated finish against the due date. When the run is released, case labels carry product, machine (line), run, production date, order reference, and unit sequence.
One connected workflow
The production facts stay attached to the run
Machine capability
Set which containers each machine can run. Each machine is a line in RunMark.
Throughput
Use containers per hour for each machine and product, worked out from your own cycle time and cavitation.
Changeovers
Enter setup minutes for each product-to-product switch on a machine—mold, resin, or color. The optimizer reserves that time before each run.
Due dates
See whether calculated run timing supports the customer promise before the order reaches the floor.
Traceability
Generate case or pallet labels from the scheduled run, with run and unit numbers.
Spreadsheet scheduling compared
Replace fragile cells with shared production context
| Spreadsheet workflow | RunMark workflow |
|---|---|
| Which machine takes which mold lives in one person’s memory. | Machine/product eligibility is explicit and reusable. |
| Run length is recalculated by hand when cycle time or quantity changes. | Timing follows the configured rate for that machine and product. |
| Color and mold changes are pencilled in as a guess. | Setup time from your changeover table occupies visible machine time. |
| Case labels are typed from the order sheet. | Labels start from the same persisted production run. |
Relevant RunMark capabilities
Enough structure for the floor, without ERP overhead
- Excel order import
- Machine-to-product eligibility
- Per-machine production rates
- Product-to-product changeover times
- Shift calendars per machine
- Visual production schedule
- PDF case and pallet labels
Start with one real week of production
Start with the machines, containers, and open orders you already track. Model a mold that moves between machines by making each machine eligible for it—RunMark does not reserve molds as a separate resource. The 30-day trial needs no credit card.
Pricing is one plan at $249/month or $2,490/year, with unlimited lines, orders, and SKUs, after a 30-day free trial.
Frequently asked questions
Practical questions from blow molding teams
Does RunMark track a mold that moves between machines?
No. RunMark schedules machines (lines), not molds as a separate shared resource, so it will not stop the same mold being planned on two machines at once. It fits best where molds mostly stay with one machine.
How do I enter cycle time and cavitation?
Enter the resulting output rate—containers per hour—for each machine and product. RunMark schedules from that rate; it does not model cycle time or cavities as separate fields.
Does RunMark optimize the changeover sequence?
Partly. RunMark’s optimizer reserves the changeover minutes you enter for each product pair before each run, never places runs closer together than that allows, and weighs changeover time against due dates. If the optimizer is unavailable, a simpler fallback scheduler drafts the schedule instead; the draft review shows which one produced it. The fallback also reserves your changeover minutes before and after every run it places, but it places orders one at a time in due-date order instead of weighing them all together. Neither searches for the sequence with the least total changeover across the week.
Can it schedule decorating, labeling, or packing as separate steps?
No. Each order is scheduled as one run on one machine; RunMark does not model multi-step routings.
What goes on a case label?
Available label fields include product, production date, line (machine), run number, unit number, order reference, part number, and company identity.
Is a credit card required for the trial?
No. The 30-day trial requires no credit card and creates no automatic charge.