Expiry date is not used by MRP.  It is also not used by the allocation process.  Both of these are controlled via the inventory status code.  The only real control you have is specifying how many days before expiration it cannot be used.    So many years ago we had a similar issue.  Stage 1 was to create a new Inventory report that only showed items that had less than 7 days left before they expire..  Even though there are already reports showing this we did it this way as it was to be the basis of the next improvement.  Also as we had predetermined the conditions we could run this automatically to give use a report every Friday morning.  Once we had this we used it to manually move the inventory to a new status, while leaving it in the same location.  Once we were sure that this process worked the way we wanted it, this next step was automated so that when the report ran it also had the option to update the status.  As the inventory had not physically moved we did not want to change the location.  The key issue was that some of this inventory was still allocated to existing orders so that caused other issues.  This leads to your allocation process.  Once the production people were comfortable in only DETAIL allocating 1 day before the order was due the process got simpler.  We then create a new "QA" program.  basically is was based on the inventory transfer program but all it allowed the user to do was approve or reject.  If reject then the inventory was moved to a new location called EXPSCP.  If approved it would ask for a new expiry date (default based on the item rules) and change the status back to available

Phil

Thank you so much for your input. As we have done, this is a somewhat manual process utilises Inventory Status Codes. Reviewing them then, taking action to ensure MRP looks at good available lots.

Thanks again for your input

Donald.

Another thing that needs to be considered is how you control items with a shelf life. For example if you also set the item as a single lot then if there is not enough left of the "expired" it would select the next batch.  But this requires a lot of dicipline to ensure that you are buying/making these in small enough batches that you know you will use up the inventory before it expires.  But that really only manages the allocation process, the MRP issue is much more difficult especially on long lead time items.  So , although it does require a lot of manual input the best way to cobntrol this is to set these parts up with a special buyer/planner group.  Then you can isolate these quickly from all the other parts and someone can then look at these individually to see if the calculations are correct, basically you can still follow the process you have highlighted above you are just aking it easier to track these items