FEFO (First Expired, First Out) is an inventory-management rule that calls for picking the batches with the nearest expiry date first, regardless of when they were received. The aim is to sell off goods before they become unsellable, and thus to reduce breakage and shrinkage.
FEFO differs from FIFO (First In, First Out), which issues the items that entered stock earliest first. As long as replenishment follows the order of dates, the two rules coincide; but as soon as a batch received later expires sooner, only FEFO prevents the most time-critical stock from being left to expire.
This rule is essential for products with a limited shelf life: food (use-by / best-before dates), pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, chemicals. It assumes rigorous batch-level traceability, with each receipt carrying its batch number and expiry date, so that order picking can present the right batch at the right time.
eyeot's Supply Chain module incorporates FEFO logic into batch and issue management, complementing the replenishment and counting rules discussed under stocktaking.