Expiry Management System

An Expiry Management System transforms expiration date handling from reactive manual oversight into proactive, automated enforcement that prevents expired products from ever reaching customers while maximizing material utilization before expiration. The system operates across five integrated workflows: expiration capture, lot tracking, proactive alerts, pick enforcement, and compliance documentation.

**Expiration Capture and Lot Creation:** When products arrive at a facility, staff capture expiration dates using multiple methods: barcode scanning (for products with machine-readable expiration formats), mobile camera scanning with OCR (for printed expiration dates like "JAN 2025"), and manual entry with validation. The system immediately evaluates shelf life remaining: "Product X expires 2025-02-15 (47 days from now). Shelf life classification: Medium." Every unit is recorded with its expiration date, creating lot-level inventory visibility where a single SKU may contain multiple lots with different expiration dates and status levels.

**Real-Time Expiration Monitoring:** The system continuously evaluates expiration status for all inventory and automatically categorizes products by urgency: Green (>30 days remaining—normal operations), Amber (7-30 days—recommend prioritized picking), Red (<7 days—immediate action required), Critical (0-3 days—must move today or be destroyed). The system automatically generates alerts escalating with severity: warehouse managers receive daily reports of red/critical items; procurement teams receive recommendations to accelerate consumption or initiate returns; finance teams receive scrap forecasts for inventory reserves. The system never waits for manual discovery—expiration monitoring runs continuously without human intervention.

**FIFO/FEFO Pick Enforcement:** When picking orders are generated, the system automatically enforces FIFO/FEFO logic by allocating materials from oldest or soonest-expiring lots first. A production request for 500 units of Raw Material X automatically identifies all available lots ranked by expiration date: "Allocate 200 units from Batch A (expires Feb 15), 150 from Batch B (expires Feb 28), 150 from Batch C (expires Mar 20)." The pick sequence is mandatory—if warehouse staff attempt to pick from a different lot, the system blocks the pick and displays the correct lot location. This prevents the all-too-common error where staff grab convenient nearby material instead of following FIFO sequence, which gradually ages inventory and drives losses.

**Proactive Inventory Optimization:** For products approaching expiration, the system generates action recommendations: accelerate consumption through promotional pricing suggestions ("Reduce price 20% to accelerate inventory turnover"), customer communications ("We have 240 units of Product X expiring Feb 15—available at 15% discount for immediate shipment"), inter-facility transfers if applicable, or destruction workflows if no demand exists. For high-value products or materials with return policies, the system identifies return opportunities before expiration becomes irreversible. For materials where shelf life is shorter than consumption rate, the system provides data-driven recommendations to procurement: "API SKU-789 has 3-month shelf life but 10% utilization rate. Recommend: negotiate longer shelf life with supplier, reduce order quantities, or adjust production schedule."

**Compliance Verification and Audit Documentation:** Regulatory inspections require proof that expiration procedures are followed. The system maintains immutable audit trails showing: receiving dates, expiration dates, lot movements, pick sequences, and disposal records. When an inspector asks "Prove that Product X with this expiration date was consumed before newer units were shipped," the system queries the database and provides timestamped records proving FIFO adherence. For failed compliance (if an expired product is discovered post-shipping), the system initiates automatic investigation workflows documenting root cause, severity, customer notification requirements, and corrective actions. All records are regulatory-ready for FDA, FSSAI, health department, and compliance audits.