I Need 5,000 Candles in 30 Days — How Do I Calculate the Number of Production Batches Required from My Current Melter Capacity?

Counting batches: total mix ÷ usable kg

The title gives two figures: 5,000 candles and 30 days. Everything else is a labelled worked example: a 200 g fill at 8% on total weight (the series default: 16 g of oil and 184 g of wax per candle), a 6-day week with day 1 a Monday, and a split of 3,000 Citrus Lemon and 2,000 Sandalwood candles, because most 5,000-candle orders come in more than one scent.

Why count in kilograms and not "47 candles a batch"? 9.5 kg is 47.5 candles of 200 g. The half-candle left at the end of a batch stays in the vessel with the heel and is poured in the next batch of the same scent, so over a run of one scent the kilograms add up, not the whole candles. The rounding that matters is per scent: the last batch of each scent is a part batch. Where the 9.5 kg comes from, and how to weigh your own, is the one-melter post; check it before you trust it, because the melter page's "9.5 liters" and "10 kg" are not the same amount of molten wax.

Batches a day against what your melter can do

Thirty calendar days on a 6-day week are 26 working days. Less 2 set-up days and a 3-day tail (the last pour sets 72 hours, then final QC, packing and hand-over), 21 are production days. 110 batches ÷ 21 = 5.24 batches a day: about 49.71 kg of mix and 249 candles poured every production day.

On one melter and one shift the order takes 28 production days, 33 working days with set-up and tail: about day 38, not day 30. The 20 kgs unit is the surprise. In the worked cycle a full 20 kg batch takes so long to pour out that only two fit an 8-hour shift, so it pours no more kilograms a day than the 10 kg unit; it only pulls ahead on long days. Moving to a bigger melter is also a process change that should be validated before client stock goes through it (the bigger-melter revalidation post).

Scents, clean-downs and the batch kit

A batch is one scent. When the scent changes, the melter is drained, the 0.3 kg heel is labelled and kept for the next run of that scent (or written off), and the vessel and tap are cleaned. In the worked example that takes 45 minutes. Alternate scents day by day on one melter and you make about 20 switches: 15.0 hours of clean-down and 6.0 kg of scented heel to store or lose. Run each scent as one block and you switch once.

With a melter per scent, each line has its own oil, stirrer, pitchers and labelled heel, and the Sandalwood line, at 44 batches, has spare days for remakes or your normal orders. Whether to keep big-order production on dedicated days at all is the dedicated-production-days post.

The batch kit: the same card 110 times

The first batch of a scent is a full 10 kg of fresh mix: 9,200 g of wax and 800 g of oil. Every following batch of that scent starts with the 0.3 kg heel already in the vessel, so it needs 9.7 kg of fresh mix: 8,924 g of wax and 776 g of oil. Use the 800 g card for every batch and the load creeps up a little on each one, because the heel is already scented. Pre-weigh each batch's oil into a labelled container, keep the batch number on the candle tray, and stir every batch for the same time; how long a 10 kg batch needs for the first and last candle to match is the 10 kg mixing post.

The purchase sheet, batch by batch

Material per scent = mix poured + losses per batch (0.2 kg × batches) + one final heel (0.3 kg) drained at the end of the run. The sheet assumes both candles are proven in Natural Soy Pearl Wax with an Eco C2 wick in your own 200 g jar.

₹157.36 a candle is CSI materials with buffers; it excludes your jars, labour, freight, packaging and GST. A following batch of Citrus Lemon carries ₹2,197.63 of oil and a Sandalwood batch ₹3,900.80, against ₹3,790.92 of wax, so the scent decides most of a batch's cost: ₹45.31 against ₹80.43 of oil per candle at 1 kg prices. On the wax, a 5 kg bag instead of the two 1 kg bags would cost more (₹4,18,428.00); Pearl is flat per kilo from 5 kg, so buying it in two deliveries costs nothing extra per kilo. Lots matter more than packs at 982 kg: if a second wax or oil lot arrives mid-order, compare it before it goes into a batch (the multi-lot QC post), and if a material simply runs out, the 5,000-candle substitution post sets out the choices. Losses that only appear at this scale are the hidden-losses-at-scale post.

Argued against our own interest: do not buy all 982 kg and 86 kg of oil on day 1 because the order is confirmed. Buy the first half, run the first batches of each scent, check them, then call off the second half. It costs nothing extra per kilo on Pearl and on these oils' 1 kg and 500 g packs, and it keeps cash free if the client changes the scent split. Ask on WhatsApp about lots and dispatch for both halves.

Accept, add a melter, or move the date

The decision rule for this worked example: accept with conditions if your normal-shift batch capacity is at least 5.24 a day for 21 days (here, a second 10 kg melter or a second shift), the people can pour and finish about 249 candles a day, both candles are proven and the materials are confirmed. Otherwise offer the date your current melter supports, about day 38, or a split delivery.

What to buy for 110 batches

Five items, chosen on page statements, price and stock on 7 October 2026. CSI publishes no burn, throw or throughput data, so nothing here is ranked on performance. Each card says when not to buy.

Skip for this order: the 20 kgs unit unless you will run 10-hour days, any wax or oil not already proven in your jar, and the second half of the materials until the first batches of each scent have passed their checks.

Frequently asked questions