I Received 100 Kg of Wax Across Several Manufacturing Lots — Should Different Lot Numbers Be Kept Separate During Candle Production?

Why separate lots deserve separate handling

Wax is made in production runs, and a supplier filling a large order may draw from more than one. Natural waxes can vary slightly from one run to the next, so two lots of the same product can behave a little differently in your candles: a shade of colour, a degree of frosting, how well the wax holds to glass. Often the difference is too small to notice. Sometimes it is not.

Keeping lots separate does not mean you expect a problem. It means that if a problem appears, you can answer the first question anyone will ask: which candles are affected? With separated, recorded lots, the answer is a list of batches. With mixed lots, the answer is everything.

This matters more as quantities grow. A 100 kg delivery supports hundreds of candles across many orders and several weeks of production. That is too much stock to treat as one undifferentiated pile.

There is also a commercial reason. Corporate buyers and retail partners increasingly ask how you control consistency. Being able to say that each order was produced from a single validated wax lot, with records to prove it, is a simple and credible answer that costs you nothing but some planning.

Separate in storage, separate on paper

Physical separation comes first. Give each lot its own shelf or pallet with a clear sign carrying your internal reference, the product name, the arrival date and any batch details the supplier has confirmed. Keep partly used lots on their own shelf too, not squeezed in beside the next lot.

Record each lot as its own line on your raw-material record: quantity received, quantity remaining, validation status and the batch sheets that drew from it. When CSI supplies wax, ask on WhatsApp (+91 7397976926) what batch information they can share for your order, and record exactly what they tell you. If no supplier batch details are available, your own internal lot reference, tied to the delivery and the pack, is still enough to keep production traceable within your workshop.

Validate each lot before release

Each lot needs its own release decision. The check can be light, but it must happen for every lot, not just the first one opened.

If one lot differs noticeably from the other, that does not automatically make it unusable. It may be fine for a different product, or it may need a small process adjustment, validated separately. What it should not do is get blended quietly into the other lot.

Allocate lots to orders before you pour

This is the step most workshops skip, and it is where separate lots start to pay off. Convert each lot into candles, then place orders on lots like pieces on a board.

Here is a worked example. The 100 kg delivery contains two lots: 40 kg of Lot A and 60 kg of Lot B. At 8% of total weight, wax is 92% of scented wax, so each kilogram of wax makes about 1.087 kg of scented wax. Lot A therefore makes about 43.5 kg scented, or 217 candles of 200 g; Lot B makes about 65.2 kg scented, or 326 candles. With a 5% planning wastage allowance, that is roughly 206 and 310 sellable candles.

The 300-candle corporate order goes entirely on Lot B, with about ten candles of margin. Every candle the client receives shares one wax lot, which is the most consistent outcome you can offer. Lot A goes to regular stock, where a new lot would be introduced anyway as stock turns over.

When an order is bigger than a lot

Sometimes the numbers will not fit. If an order needs more candles than any single lot can make, split it at a clean boundary: for example, all of one fragrance from Lot A and all of another from Lot B, or the first shipment from one lot and the second from the other. Record the split, and pour a comparison candle from each lot before you start, so you know how closely they match.

Changing lots cleanly

Plan lot changes between orders, not in the middle of a pouring session. When a lot runs out, finish the batch in progress, write the lot's final use on its record, and start the next lot at the next batch. If a single batch must straddle two lots, weigh and record how much came from each.

Your melter can help keep batches aligned with lot boundaries. The Electric Wax Melter comes in 10 kg and 20 kg capacities, and a lot of 60 kg divides cleanly into batches of either size. Verify wax temperature with a separate thermometer, since the display carries a stated ±10°C deviation, and never add fragrance at the melter's maximum setting.

What separate lots buy you later

The value of all this shows up weeks later, usually when something unexpected happens. Suppose a retailer reports that candles in one delivery have more frosting than the display samples. With lot records, you look up the retailer's batch codes, see that those batches all drew from Lot A, and pull a retained Lot A candle from your shelf to compare with a Lot B candle. Within an hour you know whether the difference follows the lot.

If it does, you know exactly how many candles could be affected, because Lot A fed a known list of batches. You can check your remaining finished stock from that lot, decide whether to hold it, and speak to the supplier with specific evidence. If it does not follow the lot, you have ruled out the wax quickly and can look at process or other materials.

Without lot records, the same complaint leads to a much wider and slower investigation. Every candle made from the delivery is a suspect, and every conversation with the supplier is vague because you cannot say which material you mean.

The same records help in the good cases too. When a lot performs particularly well, you can note it and ask the supplier for the same material next time. When a customer praises a reorder, you know which lot they received.

Where this page fits

CSI already has guides that cover parts of this question. This page takes the production-floor angle; these go deeper on the rest:

Three things to buy for this job

Frequently asked questions