FIFO

How it is used

Used in warehouses and also in accounting, where it is a method of valuing inventory. For food and medicines, FEFO (first expired, first out) is often more suitable, because the order of expiry dates matters more than the order of arrival.

Example sentences

1. We follow FIFO, so always pick from the front of the rack and put new stock at the back.

2. Because of poor FIFO discipline, we had to scrap two pallets of expired product.

Common collocations

• follow FIFO
• FIFO principle
• FIFO and FEFO
• FIFO rotation

Related terms

• inventoryAll the goods and materials a company holds at a given time, including raw materials, work in progress and finished products.
• pickingThe warehouse task of taking the right items in the right quantities from their storage locations to fill customer orders.
• WMSShort for warehouse management system: software that controls warehouse operations such as receiving, put-away, stock locations, picking and shipping.
• cold chainA supply chain that keeps temperature-sensitive products, such as food, vaccines and medicines, within a set temperature range from production to the end user.
• inventory turnoverA measure of how many times a company sells and replaces its stock in a period, usually cost of goods sold divided by average inventory.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• FIFO · Industrial Engineering & Manufacturing
• FIFO · Food Science & Technology
• FIFO · Culinary Arts & Cooking

More terms: Inventory Management

• SKU
• stockout
• safety stock
• reorder point
• replenish
• backorder
• cycle count