Understanding yield

Yield is how Crown measures what a batch actually produced against what you expected. You set a target on the recipe, and when you complete a batch, Crown compares your real output to that target and to how much you packaged. Tracking yield over time tells you whether your process is consistent and where you're losing product.

Expected yield on the recipe

Every recipe version carries an expected yield, which you can enter two ways:

• As a percentage when you create the recipe (for example, 94), meaning you expect to keep 94% of your batch size as usable output.
• As an absolute output in the recipe editor (for example, 940 mL from a 1000 mL batch). Crown derives the percentage from this.

Either way, Crown stores an expected output figure for the recipe. That figure is the baseline every batch is measured against.

Production yield

When every stage is complete, select Enter yield & complete. If you measured your bulk output, enter it in Total yield and Crown shows the production yield: your measured output as a percentage of the recipe's expected output. A figure near 100% means you hit your target; well under means you lost more than expected.

Measuring the total is optional. If your process makes it impractical (say, sauce still in the kettle), leave the field blank and Crown takes your output as what you packaged plus anything you left in bulk.

Crown QMSRecording yield at batch completion

For products measured by count, you don't enter a bulk figure. Crown takes your total output as the sum of the units you filled per SKU.

Output left in bulk

Not everything has to be bottled at completion. If you keep part of your output as bulk to package later, enter that amount in Left in bulk. Crown saves it as its own finished-good lot, and it counts toward the batch's accounted output rather than showing up as loss. When you're ready to bottle it, use the Package action on that lot, from the batch's Output section or from the Finished Goods tab on the Inventory page.

Accounting for your output

If you record packaging in the same step and you entered a measured total, Crown shows how much of that total is Accounted for: your packaged units (each SKU's unit size times the number you filled) plus anything left in bulk, as a percentage of the total you measured. Whatever remains appears as a Loss line.

Crown watches the trend for you

You don't have to spot drift by reading batch after batch. Crown tracks how each recipe actually performs and tells you when the picture changes.

On the recipe itself. Open any recipe version and a line under the version number reports how many completed batches it has produced and their median yield as a percentage of what the recipe expects, alongside a View trend link through to the chart. Once a version has at least five completed batches and its median sits three or more points away from its target in either direction, Crown adds an amber note suggesting you recalibrate the expected output on your next version. Rework batches are left out of that median — their input material was already processed once, so counting them would distort the baseline.

When a single batch drops. If a batch completes more than fifteen points below the median of that product's last ten batches, Crown raises a warning notification naming the lot and both figures, so it reaches you without anyone having to go looking. It waits until the product has at least three earlier batches to compare against, so a brand-new product doesn't generate noise while you're still establishing what normal looks like. The notification clears itself once the batch ages out of the recent window, or sooner if you correct the output and the yield comes back up.

Treat the first as a slow signal and the second as a fast one. A median that has drifted usually means the recipe's expectation needs updating; one batch well below the line usually means something happened during that run.

Why it's worth getting right

Crown compares every batch's actual yield to the recipe's expected output, so the expected figure is your baseline for spotting variance. An inaccurate baseline makes every comparison misleading, and it also skews the signals above: the recalibration note and the low-yield warning are both measured against that figure. If your recipe's expected yield doesn't match what you consistently produce, update it on a new recipe version. See Managing recipe versions.

What's next

Yield is recorded as part of wrapping up a batch. See Releasing a batch for the full path from production complete to released finished goods.