Account & Settings
Lot code format
How to set the lot code format Crown applies to your finished-good lots: built-in styles, custom token formats, and per-product overrides.
A lot code is the identifier Crown stamps on each finished-good lot you produce. A consistent, readable format is the backbone of traceability: it's what appears on your finished goods and what you'll type in to trace a lot later. You set a default format once, and Crown applies it automatically every time you produce a batch.
Where to set it
Your lot code format lives in the Admin area, on the Lot Code Format tab. The format you set there is your default: it applies to every product unless a product overrides it.
Built-in styles or custom
You don't have to build a format from scratch. Crown ships with eight common industry styles (ISO date plus sequence, Julian date plus product code, GS1-friendly layouts, and others). Pick the one closest to how you already label, or start from it and adjust.
If none fit, build your own using tokens.
Building a custom format with tokens
A custom format is a short template made of {TOKEN} placeholders and any fixed
characters you want between them (usually hyphens). Crown fills in the tokens when
it generates each lot code.
| Token | Fills in | Example |
|---|---|---|
{COMPANY} | A short code for your company, based on your company name | FK |
{PRODUCT} | A short code for the product, set on each product | HH |
{YYYY} / {YY} | Year the lot is produced, four or two digits | 2026 / 26 |
{MM} / {MON} | Month, as a number or a three-letter abbreviation | 05 / MAY |
{DD} | Day of the month | 24 |
{JJJ} | Day of the year (Julian day), 001–366 | 144 |
{SEQ} | A running counter that never resets | 00042 |
{SEQ:YEAR} | A counter that restarts at 1 each year | 001 |
{SEQ:MONTH} | A counter that restarts at 1 each month | 01 |
{BATCH} | The batch's letter for that day: A for the first, B for the second, and so on | A |
To see how the tokens combine, take Fieldstone Kitchen (company code FK)
making Habanero Hot Honey (product code HH). The format
{COMPANY}-{PRODUCT}-{YY}{SEQ:YEAR} produces FK-HH-26001: company FK, product
HH, the year 26, and 001 for the first lot of that year. The format
{COMPANY}-{YYYY}{MM}{DD}-{SEQ} produces FK-20260524-00042: company FK, the
production date, and 00042 for the 42nd lot overall.
When the date tokens fill in
The date tokens fill in with the day the lot code is assigned. By default Crown assigns the code when the batch reaches Production Complete, so a batch that starts on Friday and bottles on Monday gets Monday's date. For multi-day batches you can control that moment:
- Recipe step: flag your filling or bottling step with Assign the batch's lot code the moment this step is done. Crown assigns the lot code as soon as that step is completed on the production floor, so the code reflects the actual fill day and you can print carton labels before the run wraps up.
- Per-product date: a product that overrides the default format can also set Lot code reflects to Production start or Production complete in its Lot code section, choosing which day its date tokens use. Production complete is the default.
Overriding the format for one product
Most facilities use a single default for everything. If a particular product line needs its own format, you can override the default on that product. Open the product and set its lot code format; that product then uses its own format while everything else stays on the default. See Creating a product.
What's next
Your lot code format is part of setting up your facility. See Setting up your facility profile for the rest of the foundation, and How lot traceability works for where these codes come into play.