How many capsules should I order, and how often?

Put in your usage and the planner shows what each order pattern means in weeks of cover, deliveries a year, and cash on the shelf. The pattern that keeps one order to about a quarter of usage is marked. Prices aren't on this page, so the cash column uses whatever price per 1,000 you type in.

Your numbers

Capsule size

Usage

Capsules through the machine, not units sold. If you only know units, multiply by capsules per unit.

Supplier lead time (weeks)

Left, from their inventory. Right, when your size has to come from the factory.

Buffer (weeks) 3 for a daily runner, 2 for an occasional product. Wider if one product is the whole business.

Price per 1,000 (optional)

From your current quote. The example figure of 5.00 is illustrative, not a price.

Annual usage

—

capsules

Boxes per year

—

of this size

Recommended

—

Order pattern	Boxes	Capsules per order	Weeks of cover	Orders per year	Cash per order

Breaks fall at 5 boxes (half pallet), 10 (pallet), 50 (five pallets), and 365 (container) of one product on one order. Up to 4 boxes ships by courier. Each break earns a lower price per 1,000; the prices are on the ladder in the customer portal.

Safety inventory and reorder point

Weekly usage—

Hold, buying from supplier inventory—

Hold, if your size comes from the factory—

Difference—

Safety inventory is weekly usage times lead time plus buffer. The difference between the two lines is what a supplier holding your size in your country is worth in working capital.

Get the AI prompt pack for the full brief and an RFQ

The pack runs this for every size you buy, adds a landed-cost comparison of your quotes, and writes the request for quotation.

Illustrative arithmetic. Box counts are Capsules.com packaging for sizes 00 and 0; other suppliers' cartons differ. Confirm box counts, lead times, and prices with your supplier before ordering. Back to the article.