Batches and expiry dates: FEFO picking and counting

For screws the expiry date is irrelevant, but for medicines, food, adhesives or chemicals it is not. There it is not enough to know the quantity: batch and expiry date matter. Anyone who does not keep both in order in the warehouse counts the right total on count day and still has a problem. This article shows how to record batches and expiry dates in the warehouse and on the count sheet, and why picking by FEFO is the prerequisite.

FEFO instead of FIFO

With FIFO the oldest delivery leaves the warehouse first. With FEFO (first expired, first out) the goods that expire first go out first. That can be the same goods, but it does not have to be: a later delivery may carry an earlier expiry date. FEFO presupposes that batch and expiry date are known at all times, in the system and on the package.

In practice FEFO rarely fails for lack of will but for lack of visibility. If the forklift driver cannot tell at the rack which pallet goes out first, he takes the one that is easiest to reach. A simple colour mark for the expiry quarter on pallet or bin, a notice explaining the colours and the rule "what stands at the front goes first" achieve more than any instruction in a manual.

Keeping order in the warehouse

• One batch per bin or a clearly delimited division, never a loose mix.
• Batch and expiry date appear on the package and are taken into the system at goods receipt.
• Goods with a short remaining shelf life are visibly marked and stored at the front.
• A regular list shows the goods that expire in the coming weeks.
• Expired goods go straight into a blocked area and are treated like blocked stock.

For medicines, food and chemicals there are special requirements for storage conditions, traceability and disposal. They are a subject of their own; clarify them with your quality manager and the responsible authorities.

On the count sheet

For such items the count sheet needs two more columns: batch and expiry date. Each batch gets a line of its own. The team reads both details from the package and not from the rack label, because labels go out of date. In the reconciliation the comparison is then made by item and batch and not by item alone.

An illustrative example: item X has 1,000 pieces in the books, split into batch A with 400 pieces (expiry 03/2027) and batch B with 600 pieces (expiry 09/2027). The count finds 250 pieces of batch A and 750 pieces of batch B. The total agrees (250 + 750 = 1,000), and yet batch A shows a difference of −150 and batch B of +150. Presumably the wrong batch was posted at goods receipt or at picking.

The consequence is immediate: the system still reports 400 pieces with the earlier date, whereas there are actually 250. If deliveries are made according to the system, batch A runs out too early and the FEFO sequence no longer holds. The totals alone would never have shown this.

Expiry and valuation

Whether and how goods with an expired or soon-to-expire date are to be valued is decided by accounting together with the auditor. The count team supplies the facts: item, batch, date, quantity and condition. It does not decide on recovery or destruction.

Rules for count day

• A bin with several batches gets several lines, and the quantities are not added together.
• If the date is missing on the package, this is noted and the goods are listed separately for clarification.
• Damaged or opened packages are recorded with their condition and not quietly included in the quantity.

In short

Batch and expiry date are part of the stock and not additional information. In stock reconciliation AuditMaster groups differences by item, batch and cause, and also counts in warehouses in the pharma and medical technology sector.