MOQ
Also called Minimum order quantity
The smallest run a manufacturer or supplier will accept, usually set by what makes their setup time worth doing.
A minimum order quantity exists because setup costs the same whether you make one unit or a hundred thousand. Cleaning a line, changing tooling, running the first units to waste until the fill is in spec — that is fixed, so below some volume the site loses money on your run no matter what they charge.
You will meet three different MOQs and they rarely line up. The manufacturer has one for line time. Each ingredient supplier has one, often a full pallet or a drum. Your packaging supplier has the largest and least flexible one, because print plates and tooling are expensive and a can order is frequently the real constraint on how small your first run can be.
The practical consequence is that the smallest sensible first run is set by whichever of those is biggest, and it is usually the packaging. Planning a launch around the co-packer’s minimum and then discovering the can MOQ is three times larger is a standard first-year surprise.
NextBatch keeps this straight for you. Cost per unit, tolling tiers, yield and traceability all derive from the same plan you and your co-manufacturer share — so none of it is a number somebody typed twice.
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