Setting up your equipment

Recipe stages in Crown can reference equipment in two ways: a general type (a holding tank, a filling line) or a specific registered unit (pH Meter PH-001). Both need to exist in Crown before they can be selected in a stage.

Equipment is managed under Facility → Equipment, which has two sub-tabs: Types and Instances. Set up your types first; instances require a parent type.

Step 1: Create equipment types

An equipment type defines a class of equipment: what it is, what category it belongs to, and whether it carries calibration requirements. Every specific unit you register must belong to a type.

1. Open Facility → Equipment → Types

   Navigate to Facility from the main menu, select the Equipment tab, then the Types sub-tab. Select New Type.

2. Enter a name and short code

   Give the type a descriptive name: "Holding tank," "Bench pH meter," or "Bottle filler." The short code (1–6 characters, auto-uppercased) is used as the prefix for auto-generated equipment codes and appears in the recipe stage picker. Keep it recognisable: "PH" for pH meters, "TK" for tanks.

3. Select a category

   Category determines what fields appear on instances of this type and how Crown treats them. The most important distinction: Measurement instrument enables the calibration tracking block on every instance. Choose the category that best describes what this type of equipment does.

4. Save

   Save the type. It's immediately available to assign to equipment units.

Equipment categories:

Category	Use for
Processing	Mixing vessels, blending tanks, reactors
Filtration	Filter housings, membrane systems
Pasteurizer	Thermal processing equipment
Filling / Packaging	Fillers, cappers, labellers
Measurement instrument	pH meters, thermometers, refractometers, scales
Water system	RO units, water treatment equipment
Refrigeration	Walk-in coolers, reach-in fridges, glycol systems
Sanitation system	CIP systems, ozone generators
Sink	Utility and warewashing sinks
Sanitation sink	Dedicated sanitation sinks
Other	Anything that doesn't fit above

Step 2: Register equipment units

With types in place, register the specific pieces of equipment in your facility.

1. Open Facility → Equipment → Instances

   Select the Instances sub-tab and choose New Equipment.

2. Enter a name and assign a type

   Name the unit specifically enough to identify it in your facility: "Bench pH meter," "Walk-in cooler A," or "100L holding tank." Select the type it belongs to. The type drives what fields appear next.

3. Set or accept the equipment code

   The code is your internal identifier for this unit (e.g. PH-001, TK-003). Leave it blank and Crown auto-generates one using the type's short code as a prefix, or enter your own. This code appears in recipe stage pickers and calibration records.

4. Add identification details

   Manufacturer, model, and serial number are all optional but useful for maintenance records and calibration documentation. Add what you have.

5. Configure calibration (measurement instruments only)

   If the type is a Measurement instrument, a calibration setup block appears. Set the default calibration method, interval in days, and tolerance (± value and unit). These are configuration defaults; Crown derives next-due dates from the interval automatically once you start recording calibration events.

6. Save

   Save the unit. The equipment is now available to select in recipe stages.

Crown QMSEquipment unit drawer: calibration setup block

Calibration tracking

Calibration in Crown has two separate parts that save independently.

Configuration: the method, interval, and tolerance fields on the equipment record. These save when you save the equipment unit. They define how calibration should be performed and what tolerance is acceptable.

Events: individual calibration records entered through the Record calibration drawer (available in edit mode). Each event captures the date, method used, standards referenced, and actual readings. Crown compares readings against your tolerance and automatically determines pass, fail, or adjusted.

Recording a calibration event:

1. Open the equipment unit in edit mode

   Navigate to Facility → Equipment → Instances and open the unit. The Record calibration button is available in edit mode.

2. Enter the event details

   Record the date, method used, and standards referenced. Add readings as rows; Crown shows a live pass/fail preview against your configured tolerance before you save.

3. Save the event

   Save the calibration record. If any reading falls outside tolerance, Crown automatically records the result as a fail and creates a deviation. A pass or adjusted result updates the equipment's last calibrated date and next due calculation.

4. Attach the certificate

   After saving, you're prompted to attach the calibration certificate or reading photos. This step is separate from saving the event record itself.

Where overdue calibration surfaces:

Crown flags overdue calibration in several places: the Next due cell in the Instances list turns red, the calibration block in the equipment drawer shows an Overdue badge, and the dashboard surfaces it too, in the Alerts card and the Compliance Health card's "Calibration overdue" group.

Equipment status and archiving

Crown has two separate mechanisms for equipment lifecycle; they behave differently and are easy to confuse.

Status (Active / Maintenance / Retired) is a soft label. You can set a unit to Retired or Maintenance at any time, but this does not remove it from recipe stage pickers. A retired unit is still selectable in recipe stages as long as it isn't archived.

Archive permanently removes the unit from lists and pickers. Calibration history is retained. Use archive when a piece of equipment leaves your facility and should no longer appear anywhere in Crown.

Archiving equipment types has an additional guard: a type cannot be archived while any units are assigned to it. Reassign or archive all instances first, then archive the type.

How equipment appears in recipe stages

When building a recipe stage, the equipment picker shows:

• By type: displays as "Name (SHORT_CODE)," e.g. "pH meter (PH)." References the capability, not a specific unit. The batch record captures which actual unit was used at production time.
• Specific unit: displays as "Name (equipment_code)," e.g. "Bench pH meter (PH-001)." Binds the stage to that exact unit.

Archived units are hidden from both pickers. Units with a status of Maintenance or Retired remain visible, so archive the unit if you don't want it appearing as an option.