Milford business runs made-to-order operation

April 20, 2013 (Nashua Telegraph) - Alene Candles manufactures millions of products ever year, but employees say their practice is more of an art form than anything else.

Kellie Church, of Wilton, has worked at the company for 15 years in the production lab. She is so highly skilled at perfecting and modifying specialty candles that today, she can eyeball the precise mixtures required to create the subtle differences between the orange colors “peach” and “apricot nectar.”

Lab Manager Peggy LaFrance said at the small laboratory across the street from the manufacturing location on Scarborough Lane each one of Alene’s middle to high end candles are meticulously created, formulated and tested for weeks on end.

“It’s a craft,” she said.

Selling to stores like Neiman Marcus, The Limited and Bath & Body Works, LaFrance calls on about 10 lab technicians, a chemist and a chemical engineer to perfect millions of candles that will go into production every year. Alene Candles has also designed novelty candle items in the past for the White Castle restaurant and singer Gwen Stefani’s designer brand L.A.M.B.

Alene Candles formed in 1995, first in Wilton, before moving to Milford under the direction of founder Paul Amato. The company is a private-label filler. So, while they compete with candle manufacturers like Yankee Candle in Massachusetts, they offer “turnkey and non-turnkey services,” too. That means they’ll design products for their customers, from packaging to fragrance, or just fill an order for a special customer by making the wax candle.

At the Alene lab, it can take anywhere from four to six weeks for a candle to be fully tested. Technicians work to melt the wax, getting the proportions of paraffin, soy and soft wax just right, before experimenting with color and smell. A few test samples of the candles are made and placed under incandescent and fluorescent lighting for weeks to ensure the mixtures won’t fade over time. Then the candles are tested in the specialty “burn lab” to test for “wick optimization” and other safety properties.

In a long, dark room, Manager Andrew Masse stood looking out over dozens and dozens of lit candles, set to burn in four or eight hour shifts this past week. He is tasked with monitoring the candles’ burning and to ensure there is no “flash over,” the disastrous moment when a candle is so poorly mixed together, the wax and container light on fire. Masse said that rarely happens at Alene but somebody always has to stand by to keep a careful watch and be sure the product is completely safe.

He joked he tells his wife Amanda that she can only burn the specialty candles he’s approved.

Over at the manufacturing plant, where more than 150 people work, lines of employees put out thousands of candles every day.

In a typical 8-hour shift, Jack Kuehl, Alene’s manager of manufacturing, said workers can turn out anywhere from 8,000 to 40,000 candles at their 75,000-square-foot location, depending on the order.

Amato, who founded the company with his wife Nancy Alene Amato, sold the company in 2008 and is now a minority shareholder.

He said Alene is not at danger for competing with overseas manufacturing at China and other places because of “quality.”

He added few people take the time to develop such candles so carefully but that is part of Alene’s signature process. And while dozens of perfumes and candle scents blend together to omit an overwhelming smell at the Alene site, workers say they have grown so accustomed to it.

Mayeen Nguyen, of Nashua, stood looking out over a few workers using towels to wipe away melted candle wax on glass containers before the hundreds of fragrant candles before they went out for shipment. She said she enjoys her job.

“And I don’t even smell it,” she said with a smile.

The company also recently received more than $60,000 as a job training fund grant from the state to improve their practices.

Chuck Tewell, Alene Candles vice president of human resources, said the training of their employees, to improve their workers’ skills as well as company practices, is set to go into effect later this year.