Recipes & BOM

Create recipes and bills of materials to define how products are manufactured from raw ingredients.

A recipe (or bill of materials) defines the ingredients, components, and quantities required to produce a finished product. Recipes are the foundation of the Production module — they drive material consumption, costing, and yield calculations for every work order.

Think of it as writing down exactly what goes into one batch of your product. A bakery’s chin chin recipe might list 2 kg flour, 200 g sugar, 100 ml milk, and 4 eggs to produce 50 packs. A cleaning-products maker might list 5 litres of concentrate, 10 litres of water, and 15 bottles. Once the recipe is saved, Eleo uses it to calculate costs, check stock, and deduct ingredients automatically every time you produce a batch.

Creating a recipe

Follow these steps to set up a new recipe:

1. 1

   Navigate to Recipes

   Go to Production → Recipes (BOM) and click New Recipe.

2. 2

   Select the output product

   Choose the finished product this recipe produces. The product must already exist in your inventory catalogue. You can also set the expected output quantity and unit (e.g. 20 pieces, 5 kg).

3. 3

   Add ingredients

   Add each raw material or component needed. For every ingredient, specify the quantity and unit required per batch. The system uses these quantities to calculate material consumption when a work order is completed.

4. 4

   Set yield and notes

   For each ingredient, optionally set the expected yield percentage to account for process losses such as trimming, peeling, evaporation, or spoilage. A yield of 80% means 20% of the raw material is lost during processing. The default is 100% (no waste).

   You can also add preparation notes or instructions that will be visible to production staff on the work order.

5. 5

   Save the recipe

   Review the ingredient list and click Save. The recipe is now available for use in work orders.

Recipe fields explained

• Output Product — The finished product that this recipe produces. Each product can have one or more recipe versions. For instance, you might have a “v1” and “v2” of your zobo drink recipe after switching from honey to sugar.
• Output Quantity — How many units of the finished product a single batch yields (e.g. 50 packs of chin chin, 10 litres of tiger nut milk, 20 bars of soap).
• Ingredients — The list of raw materials or sub-components with their required quantities and units.
• Yield Percentage — Set per ingredient, this is the expected proportion of each raw material that becomes usable after processing (0–100). The system uses this to calculate the effective quantity you actually need to purchase and consume: effective qty = recipe qty × 100 ÷ yield %. For example, if a recipe calls for 80 g of chicken breast at 80% yield (20% bone and trim loss), the system calculates that you need 100 g of raw chicken and costs accordingly. Defaults to 100% (no loss).
• Notes — Free-text instructions, preparation steps, or quality reminders shown to the production team.

How recipes are used

When you create a work order and select a recipe, the system automatically:

• Calculates the total material quantities needed based on the ordered quantity and the recipe ratios. If one batch makes 50 packs and you order 150 packs, quantities are tripled.
• Checks inventory availability for each ingredient and flags shortages. You will see a warning if, say, you only have 4 kg of flour but need 6 kg.
• Deducts raw materials from stock when the work order is marked as completed (auto-consumption).
• Adds the finished product to inventory at the calculated production cost.

Managing recipes

• Edit — Update ingredient quantities, yield settings, or notes at any time. Changes apply to future work orders only; completed orders retain the values from the recipe version used.
• Duplicate — Clone an existing recipe to create a variation without starting from scratch.
• Archive — Archive recipes you no longer use. Archived recipes are hidden from the work order selection list but remain accessible for historical reference.