The problem with tracking tape in rolls and kilograms
Adhesive tape is sold as a finished roll, but it is manufactured as area. A coating line converts a film or paper web plus a measured coat of adhesive into a jumbo roll that may be more than a metre wide and thousands of metres long. That jumbo is rewound into log rolls on cores, and the logs are slit into finished rolls of a fixed width and length. At each step the unit of measure changes, and at each step a little material is lost. Adhesive tape ERP software is designed to follow each of these steps.
When this is tracked in a register or a spreadsheet, it is almost impossible to reconcile. The store issues film in kilograms, production reports jumbos in metres, packing counts rolls and cartons, and the accountant values stock at an average rate. Adhesive tape ERP software solves this by holding every roll as a traceable item with width, length, area and weight, and by booking each conversion with its waste. DotOne, which we configure for tape and coating units, does this from the raw material receipt to the carton on the truck.
Raw materials: film, adhesive, liner and cores
A tape unit buys a short list of materials, but each has properties that matter for quality and cost. We set up the item masters so that these properties are captured at goods receipt rather than written on the roll with a marker.
- Base films and substrates: BOPP, PVC, PET, crepe paper, kraft paper, cloth and foam, with thickness in microns, width, and length or weight per roll.
- Adhesives: water-based acrylic, solvent-based rubber and hot melt systems, tracked by batch with solid content, viscosity and shelf life or expiry date.
- Release coatings and primers: silicone release, low adhesion backsize and primer, recorded by batch and consumption per run.
- Release liners: siliconised paper or film for double-sided and foam tapes, stocked by width and GSM.
- Cores: paper cores by internal diameter, wall thickness and length, often cut in-house from long core tubes.
- Packing material: shrink film, cartons, labels and printed sleeves, stocked by size and customer where they are branded.
Coating, rewinding and slitting in adhesive tape ERP software
Each stage in the tape process becomes a production step with its own input, output and loss. This is what turns production data into usable yield and cost information.
Coating and lamination run
A coating run consumes a film roll, an adhesive batch and, where needed, a liner. The operator records line speed, oven temperature zones and the target and actual coat weight in GSM. Output is one or more jumbo rolls, each with its own number, width, length and area. Start-up waste, splice waste and coating defects are booked as scrap with a reason.
Rewinding into log rolls
The jumbo is rewound onto cores to make log rolls of the required length. The ERP records which jumbo each log came from, the number of logs and the core used. Core-end waste and rewinding defects such as telescoping or wrinkles are captured here.
Slitting into finished rolls
Logs are slit to widths such as 12 mm, 24 mm, 48 mm or 72 mm. The slit plan defines how many rolls of each width come from one log, and the edge trim is recorded as waste. Finished rolls carry the jumbo and adhesive batch reference for traceability.
Printing for branded tape
For printed BOPP tape, a print step sits between coating and slitting or uses pre-printed film. Customer artwork, plate or cylinder details and ink consumption are linked to the order so that repeat orders can be produced to the same standard.
Units, conversions and roll-level stock
Customers order tape as a number of rolls or cartons of a given width and length, such as 48 mm by 65 metres. Internally, the factory thinks in sq m because that is what the coating line produces and what the adhesive covers. The ERP converts between the two automatically. A finished roll item knows its width and length, so its area is calculated, and an order for a number of cartons can be exploded into the sq m of jumbo needed.
Jumbo and log rolls are stocked at roll level, each with its remaining length. When a partially slit log goes back to the store, it returns with its balance length rather than disappearing into an average. This is what makes stock taking possible without unrolling material, and it is a core part of the inventory management software setup we do for converters.
Wastage and quality: where tape margins go
Tape margins depend heavily on yield. A few extra millimetres of edge trim on every jumbo, or a coat weight that runs above target, quietly eat into profit. Because the ERP books waste at each stage, reports can show:
- Yield from film area issued to good jumbo area, per coating run and per line.
- Coat weight variance: actual GSM against standard, converted into extra adhesive kilograms.
- Edge trim and slitting waste per log, by slit plan and by machine.
- Reasons for downgraded or rejected rolls, such as poor unwind, low tack, adhesive transfer, bubbles or core crush.
- Test results such as peel adhesion, tack and unwind values recorded against the jumbo or batch.
Tape quality complaints often come months after supply. Because each finished roll links back to a jumbo, an adhesive batch and a film lot, the investigation starts from facts. The batch traceability setup explains how this genealogy is held.
Costing tape per sq m and per roll
In DotOne, cost is built up in the same order as production. The jumbo carries the cost of film, adhesive at actual GSM, liner, release coating, power and coating line time, plus its share of start-up waste. The log adds core and rewinding cost. The finished roll adds slitting time, its share of edge trim, and packing.
The result is a cost per sq m for each product type and a cost per roll for each width and length. Management can compare this with the price per roll realised from each customer or distributor and see which sizes and grades actually earn money. For quotations, the same structure gives a quick estimate when a customer asks for a non-standard width, length or print.
Sales channels and dispatch for tape
Tape units sell through packaging and stationery distributors, directly to industrial users such as cartoning and electrical units, to private label buyers, and increasingly to online sellers. Each channel has its own price structure and packing requirement. The ERP holds customer-specific rates per roll or per sq m, carton configurations, printed sleeve or label requirements and credit terms.
At dispatch, packing lists show rolls per carton and cartons per size, and the same document generates the GST e-invoice and e-way bill. Sales teams can check finished stock and work in progress by size from the mobile ERP app before promising a date. The sales order management module tracks part-dispatches for large orders spread over several weeks.
What is the best ERP for adhesive tape manufacturers?
The best fit is the one that handles roll-level conversion properly. When you evaluate options, ask to see a real jumbo go through rewinding and slitting with waste booked at each step. Then check whether the system can:
- Store jumbo and log rolls individually with remaining length.
- Record coat weight in GSM and calculate adhesive consumption from it.
- Run a slit plan and book edge trim automatically.
- Convert orders in rolls or cartons into sq m requirements.
- Trace a finished roll back to its jumbo, film and adhesive batch.
A system that cannot do these will push the real work back into spreadsheets. We are happy to run your own product through DotOne as part of a process study.
