Today, polymer extrusion is still one of the most relevant manufacturing process concerning the continued demand of polymer products. In order to reach the desired amounts of polymer, high melt quality with simultaneously high throughput has to be provided by the extrusion process. Besides the chemical composition of the polymer, the melt quality depends on processing conditions. In fact, the parameter settings of the extruder and particularly the barrel temperatures affect the melt quality crucially. Inappropriate barrel temperature settings can lead to deterioration of the material. In the last years, several different strategies to reach optimal barrel temperature settings have been developed. Nevertheless, nowadays the temperature of the barrel is either still set with the help of experienced process engineers or by using recommendations from the resin manufacturer. If neither option is possible, the barrel temperature has to be set by applying trial and error experiments. Overall, the demand to parametrize the barrel temperatures in an objective and operator-independent way is of great relevance. This article aims to develop a strategy for setting the optimum barrel temperature with regard to quality criteria such as throughput and melt quality. First, two objective quality criteria to define melt quality, named weighted melt temperature and radial temperature homogeneity, were introduced. After that, experimental investigations using a dynamic method with systematically heating and cooling programs of each barrel zone were performed to reveal thermal system inertia of the extrusion process. Afterall, rules of behavior were derived from the process and correlations between the barrel temperature and the polymer quality of the extrudate have been carried out.