How to keep track of expiry dates on large number of stocks?

Dear All,

We are a seasoning powder manufacturer and we are using a lot of raw materials (roughly about 600++, oil and powder type).  I just want to ask for some suggestions/recommendations on how can we properly track down our stocks because some of which are going to expire already.  We have this system that will just give you the quantity inside the warehouse but will not say it will be going to expire.  Hoping for some inputs.  Thanks.

unless you have a system that does this for you, then you will have to do it yourself. On a quarterly basis. Excel spreadsheet.

We have a system that tracks expiry dates, but we don't use it.  Terrible shame.  

What we do is tag all the incoming materials with the date received.  We turn our inventory over enough it works for us so long as we pull from the first received following FIFO.  I wish we would use the system and have FEFO, but alas...we aren't in that position yet.

You have a number of ways to manage this physically and manually tracking.  It depends on how you want to apply the resources.  I don't know what is easiest for you, only you can answer.  I would think that physically tagging each item with large color sticker with the expiration date would be helpful.  I know a lot of those items the expiration date is either missing or difficult to read (small print).  With this, you can more readily see what is expiring and act accordingly.

In a previous life, we had over 1,500 raw materials and many of them being limited use.  We were able to extend the expiration dates on many of them with QA evaluations.  Again, that all depends on what resources you want to apply and if it is actually worth the time needed.

I use a Google calendar with material code and lot code on the date of expiry. Very simple to implement, free, and provides alerts that appear automatically on my computer based on whatever frequency I decide upon.