The expiration date, as defined by the manufacturer, represents the final day a consumable product, such as food or pharmaceuticals, is guaranteed to be at its optimal quality. For food items, these dates are crucial for maintaining flavor and texture, whereas federal regulations require that manufacturers of both prescription and over-the-counter medications clearly indicate their expiration dates.
Expiration indicators such as "sell by," "use by," "best by," or "do not use after" are systematically incorporated into product packaging to communicate vital safety and quality information, thereby guiding consumers in making informed decisions regarding product disposal. In addition, comprehensive operational guidelines are provided to retail personnel to ensure the timely and appropriate removal of items from shelves in accordance with these critical expiration timelines.
Odoo 18 incorporates expiration dates to effectively manage the lifecycle of perishable goods, helping to minimize waste and ensuring that customers do not buy expired items. Assigning lot and serial numbers to products enables businesses, particularly in the food industry, to track expiration details and establish accurate expiration dates. This functionality can be accessed through the Odoo 18 Inventory Application.
Users must first set up the options for "Lot/Serial Number" before assigning expiration dates to the inventory goods. Thus, select the "Settings" window from the "Configuration" menu. To activate expiration dates in the Inventory app, select the "Lots & Serial Numbers" option by checking the box in the "Traceability" section of the "Settings" window. Odoo will add an additional field called "Expiration Dates" if you enable this functionality.
Configuration > Settings > Lots & Serial Numbers & Expiration Dates > Save
Once you save the changes, you can either create a new product by selecting the "Products" section from the "Product" menu or head to a product configuration form. A list of products will appear. To add a new one, just click the New button.
Inside each of the form tab sections, customers can easily create a new product called "Mindphin" and provide some basic product information. Utilise the Inventory Tracker by Lot or by Unique Serial Number.
Go to the "Inventory" tab of the product's setup form and choose "By Unique Serial Number" or "By Lots" as the "Traceability" option to define the product expiration dates. This will bring up a second field called "Expiration." To enable traceability, activate the option. In the "DATES" section, you will see fields to enter various expiration dates, such as "Expiration Date," "Best Before Date," "Removal Date," and "Alert Date."
Expiration Dates: Expiration dates show how long it takes for an item to become unsafe or undesirable once it is made or received from a seller.
Best Before Date: The phrase "Best Before Date" refers to the period of time before the product's expiration date when it begins to deteriorate, even if there isn't a major risk.
Removal Dates: The removal date shows the number of days until the products are removed from stock.
Alert Date: A specific number of days before the expiration date, an alert should be sent out about products in a particular lot or serial number.
The screenshot above displays the dates entered for the Chocolate product. Once these dates are confirmed and the information is saved, we can quickly create a new Receipt transfer for this item. To do this, navigate to the "Receipts" section under the Inventory "Operations" menu and click on the 'New' button to initiate the process.
In the displayed form view, the user is required to input a vendor name. Additionally, within the Operation tab, the user included the product Chocolate, specifying a quantity of 2. After saving the changes, the user proceeded to click the Mark as Todo button.
The user needs to add serial numbers for each quantity received. On the "Operation" tab, click the menu that appears inside the product column.
Afterward, a new popup window will launch, presenting a dashboard with fields for Lot/Serial Numbers, Expiration Date, To, Destination Package, Quantity, and Unit of Measure. Moreover, as depicted in the screenshot below, you have the option to use the "Generate Serials" and "Import Lots" buttons to establish new product serial or lot numbers.
The "Generate Serials/Lots" option provides users with the ability to tailor their serial numbers, and the "Number of SN" field lets them indicate the quantity of serial numbers they intend to produce. Before hitting "Generate" for the selected serial numbers, we can also set the product's Starting Serial Number (SN).
The "Generate" button is utilized to produce serial numbers once the user inputs a sample serial number, for instance, "Mind_001," in the "First Serial Number" section. The desired quantity of SN is 3. Ensure that the Keep Current lines feature is activated, allowing the serial numbers to be generated in the same order as the first entry.
The newly generated serial numbers for our product can be found in the screenshot above. Each serial number is accompanied by its Expiration Date. Users can conveniently edit these expiration dates from that location. After saving the changes, please ensure you return to the Receipt order configuration page. Finally, validate the receipt to add the products to the company stock.
A report of received items with lot/serial numbers and expiration dates can be viewed from the smart tab named Traceability.
The "Expiration Date" column provides the specified expiration dates for the products. In this instance, we have uniformly assigned identical expiration dates across all quantities of the product.
Simply select the Lots/Serial Numbers option from the products menu. This will provide users with detailed information regarding the assigned lot/serial numbers and their corresponding expiration dates.
It displays a compilation of traceable items, including Lot/Serial Numbers, Product Name, Creation Date, Alert Date, Best Before Date, Removal Date, Expiration Date, and the Company Name.
You can also create a new entry by clicking the New Button. To view an existing entry, just select it. Here, the product identified by the Serial number Mind_001 is being viewed. The Dates tab includes the Expiration Date, Removal Date, Best Before Date, and Alert Date.
The screenshot below shows the Alert Date, which is the date when the expiration alert will be triggered.
Users have the option to filter the entire selection based on the Expiration Alert, which will filter all products that are about to expire.
Effectively overseeing product expiration dates in Odoo 18 is imperative for achieving operational excellence, reducing waste, and complying with industry regulations. By utilizing Odoo's advanced functionalities, such as lot tracking, inventory optimization, and automated notifications, enterprises can proactively mitigate risks associated with product management. This strategic implementation not only enhances operational efficiency but also reinforces trust and satisfaction among customers and stakeholders, thereby fostering long-term business relationships.