Scales: weigh ingredients with tolerances
Essential, Advanced and Integral plans
How to connect a scale to the browser, weigh the ingredients of a production order within their tolerance and review the weighing deviations report.
What it is for
Weighing by eye is the most common reason a recipe doesn’t turn out the same two days in a row and why the real cost drifts away from the recipe costing. With a scale connected to the computer, the operator weighs each ingredient in the production order and Recipok compares the weight with the quantity the recipe calls for, within a tolerance.
If a weighing falls outside the margin, it warns you but doesn’t block anything: production never stops because of Recipok. Each weighing is recorded with its operator, and the administrator later checks the Weighing deviations report to spot habits that need correcting.
Before you start
- A scale with a serial or USB output connected to the workstation’s computer, and Recipok open in Chrome or Edge.
- Production orders created (see Production orders).
- Optional: a specific tolerance for delicate ingredients (salt, yeast, additives).
Set the tolerance
Open the ingredient sheet, Weight/price (Cost) tab, Weighing tolerance block. Enter how much is allowed Below and Above, and the Tolerance unit (percentage or grams). They’re independent because adding too much salt isn’t the same mistake as adding too little. If you don’t enter anything, the company’s general tolerance is used.
Connect the scale
Open the weighing screen
Click Weigh ingredients in the production order or on its card in the active production orders board.
Connect
Click Connect scale and choose the port in the browser window. When Scale connected appears, it’s already reading the weight. If you have it open in another tab, close it: the port only accepts one.
Workstation settings (first time only)
The manager opens the Scale settings: the Scale protocol and, under Advanced settings, the baud rate and the other parameters. The easiest way is Detect settings with the scale still and a weight on it. With Save settings, any workstation in the bakery opens the scale already configured.
Weigh the ingredients
- 1Total weight: it arrives live from the scale and is compared with the target and its tolerance.
- 2Record weighing: if it were out of margin, the button would change to Record out of margin.
- Choose the Container: Same for all or Changes per ingredient. Click Tare with the empty container on the scale.
- Add the ingredient up to the target. Recipok shows Within tolerance, Above the margin or Below the margin.
- Click Record weighing. Weighing recorded appears and you move on to the next ingredient.
- While you weigh, you can scan the lot label on the container: Recipok assigns it to the ingredient in the order (“Lot assigned”) or warns you if that lot doesn’t belong to this ingredient.
- If the workstation is in operator mode, the weighing is signed by whoever scanned their QR badge.
The scale can also be used when packing the order: with Tagged by Weight and Connect Scale you record the weight of each unit for its labels.
The weighing deviations report
In Production orders › Weighing deviations (administrator only) you see all the weighings between the From and To dates, or Out of margin only. At the top, the summary: Recorded weighings, Within tolerance, Out of margin and Largest deviation. In the table, for each weighing: date, order, ingredient, target, weight, deviation and operator.
Tips
Check the report once a week. If the same ingredient always comes out above target, the recipe may be written wrongly or the team may be rounding up; both change your cost. To see how the team is performing, look at the productivity reports.
The scale settings should be changed by someone in charge. If a workstation stops reading after you change scales, click Forget on the saved settings and detect them again.