With Pickware, you can record and manage the expiration dates of your products. This way, you always keep track of remaining shelf life and can control your stock efficiently.

For expiration dates to be recorded and automatically managed when working with Pickware, a product must be configured with the tracking profile Expiration date only or Batch & expiration date. If the tracking profile Batch only is configured for a product, you can maintain an expiration date as additional information for the batch. In this case, however, the expiration date has no effect on the processes within Pickware.

Once a tracking profile that requires an expiration date has been configured for a product, the expiration date information must be fully recorded for all stock movements & shipments.

If you want to record a new expiration date, navigate to Warehouse management (Lagerhaltung) → Batches and expiration dates (Chargen und MHD) and create a new batch. Here you select your product and can enter an expiration date. Only products that are tracked by expiration date are available for selection.

The required fields you need to fill in, which differ depending on the selected tracking profile, are marked with an asterisk.

Expiration dates can be recorded individually per line item when working with the WMS App and via the admin, either when recording a goods receipt or when putting away the goods receipt.

If a product is delivered in a shipment with multiple expiration dates, you can reflect this in a single goods receipt. To do this, when working via the admin, record one line item for the product for the goods receipt. After recording the goods receipt, you can split the single line item of the product into multiple line items using the button:

You can then select a different batch for the split portion:

To record multiple expiration dates for a product in a single goods receipt via the WMS App, you can simply add the same product to the goods receipt multiple times. You can then select an individual expiration date for each line item. If the line item is delivered with an expiration date that hasn't been recorded in the system yet, you can create the expiration date directly within the goods receipt by selecting Add (Hinzufügen).

You can then enter the corresponding date:

In the goods receipt view, you can now see the various line items of the product with the respective expiration date and (if available) batch number.

Expiration dates and remaining shelf life of products tracked by expiration date can be viewed and analyzed via the menu Batches and expiration dates (Chargen und MHD) under Warehouse management (Lagerhaltung):

In the batch overview, in addition to the expiration date, you'll also find a Remaining shelf life column, which shows the remaining shelf life in days and is sortable. If no expiration date is set, "–" is displayed; if the expiration date has passed, a negative remaining shelf life is displayed. Additionally, you can use the Remaining shelf life filter to filter by a time window, for example with Up to (≤) 0 days to find expired batches, or with Up to (≤) 14 days to check stock that will expire soon.

You can also see the tracking information in the product details under the Stock tab. Depending on the tracking profile, the batch number and/or the expiration date, including remaining shelf life in days, is displayed there. In the details of a batch, the remaining shelf life is also displayed in the context of the stored expiration date.

The remaining shelf life of a product tracked by expiration date corresponds to the period from today until the expiration date. With Pickware, it's also possible to work with negative remaining shelf life. If you want to work with negative remaining shelf life, make sure that the minimum remaining shelf life is configured accordingly.

For the incoming goods inspection, the putaway list can display the remaining shelf life in days. You can find more about this here.

If you track products by expiration date, Pickware automatically suggests a suitable storage bin during picking – usually the one with the oldest expiration date of the product. If you work via the admin, this storage bin is displayed accordingly on the pick list. In the WMS App, you can deliberately deviate from this suggestion if needed and pick from a different storage bin. Since storage bins for tracked products are kept batch- and expiration-date-pure, the expiration date belonging to the selected storage bin is then automatically applied.

For the most efficient picking possible, Pickware also optimizes the picking route so that you have to visit as few storage bins as possible. Minimizing the number of storage bins visited remains a key criterion here, which means that in certain situations the suggestions may deviate from a strictly FEFO-sorted order in favor of efficient picking. This is the case, for example, when an order line item cannot be fully fulfilled with the oldest expiration date, but can be with the second-oldest without additional splitting. In this case, Pickware guides you to the next-oldest suitable expiration date to avoid unnecessary additional routes and storage bin changes.

The suggestions are supportive and not a rigid requirement. If you deliberately want to ship a different batch or expiration date, you can select a different storage bin at any time in the WMS App.

If you ship orders via the admin, batches are automatically determined based on storage bin order and are not suggested based on remaining shelf life. For picking based on remaining shelf life, use the WMS App.

Stock is not automatically removed from storage when the expiration date has passed. You always retain control and decide for yourself how to handle expired goods - for example, through removal from storage, write-off, or a special clearance sale.

You can find goods that have passed their expiration date fastest in the Batches and expiration dates (Chargen und MHD) menu using the Remaining shelf life filter. Set Up to (≤) 0 days to display all expired batches.

Pickware automatically suggests expiration dates during picking that meet your configured minimum remaining shelf life requirements. Only stock whose remaining shelf life meets the respective applicable minimum remaining shelf life is suggested. This way, you ensure that goods with too short a remaining shelf life are not automatically selected for shipment. Batches without a stored expiration date are ignored for this check.

You can configure minimum remaining shelf life:

The order of priority here is
​Customer's minimum remaining shelf life > product's minimum remaining shelf life > global remaining shelf life.

This way, for example, you can always automatically send customers with specific remaining shelf life requirements goods with a matching expiration date - without any additional manual effort.

We have two expiration dates in stock – can I specifically sell off only the stock with the short expiration date?
Pickware doesn't assign a batch/expiration date when an order is received, but rather during picking. Automatic "shop control" that binds orders to a specific batch in advance is currently not possible. However, Pickware supports you with the FEFO-oriented removal strategy, helping to remove older expiration dates from stock first.

How do expiration dates work with bills of materials?
For bills of materials, tracking is controlled via the sub-products. Only tracked sub-products are handled according to expiration date/batch accordingly; non-tracked sub-products follow the standard removal strategy.