Yield

Every run loses some product. Liquid clings to the inside of tanks and hoses, the first and last units through a filler are usually out of spec, some packaging is damaged, and quality holds a sample. Yield is what survives all of that as sellable stock.

It matters more than most brands expect, because the cost of the lost units does not disappear — it gets spread across the ones that made it. A batch that yields ninety-six per cent instead of ninety-nine adds roughly three per cent to your true cost per unit, quietly, without any invoice ever changing.

It is also the most reliable early warning that something on the line is drifting. A yield that has been sliding across three runs is a mechanical problem being reported to you in numbers before anyone thinks to mention it.