Recipes

This section describes how to use Recipes in KAS.

It is intended for:

• Machine builders (OEMs).
• System integrators and distributors.
• Controls Engineers.
• End users and operators.

Recipes enable efficient handling of machine configuration data for different products, improving flexibility, consistency, and traceability.

What is a Recipe?

In industrial automation, a recipe is a named collection of parameter values that together define the configuration for a particular manufacturing process or product variant, sometimes referred to as a SKU.

Rather than hard-coding process parameters into the control program itself, recipes allow operators and engineers to separate what the machine does (the program logic) from how it is configured for a given job (the data).

Recipes are a foundational concept in batch and discrete manufacturing and are formally described in the ISA-88 (IEC 61512) standard for batch process control.

See ISA-88 Series of Standards.

What Problems Do Recipes Solve?

Modern manufacturing lines frequently produce multiple product variants on the same equipment. Without recipe management, engineers face a difficult choice:

• Hard-code all variants into the program - resulting in complex, branching logic that is difficult to maintain and error-prone to modify.
• Manually adjust parameters at the HMI or in the source code - a slow, undocumented, and risky process that depends entirely on operator knowledge.

Recipe management eliminates both of these problems by providing a structured, systematic mechanism for storing and applying process parameters.

Problem	How Recipes Help
Product changeovers are slow.	A single operator action loads a complete parameter set instantly.
Parameter changes are undocumented.	Recipe files are named, versioned, and stored in a traceable format.
Operators can enter invalid values.	Recipe variables carry type information and can enforce validation limits.
Process knowledge is not documented.	Parameters are captured in files that can be backed up, shared, and audited.
Scaling to new variants requires code changes.	A new recipe file is created with no changes to the control program.

Example Use Cases

Example Industry	Use Case
Food and Beverage	Switching between product formulations (e.g., flavors, concentrations).
Pharmaceuticals	Batch manufacturing with strict parameter traceability requirements.
Labeling	Store label offset, print speed, and dispense timing for different container sizes.
Agricultural Automation	Define dryer temperature, airflow, and target moisture content for different grain types (e.g., corn, soybeans, wheat).
Laser Notching / Cutting	Define laser power, pulse frequency, cutting speed, and focus offset for different parts.