Overview

Luminous lets you attach a lot number, a manufactured date, and an expiry date to every batch of inventory you receive. The platform then surfaces expiry status at a glance and—when configured—automatically fulfills orders from the soonest-to-expire lots first (FEFO), so older stock ships out before it goes bad.

For a walkthrough of enabling lot tracking on a product and assigning lots during a receiving report, see the companion article How to Use Lot Tracking in Luminous. This guide focuses on centralized lot management and shelf-life configuration.

1. The Lots Admin page

All lots across every SKU are visible in one place:

  1. In the left-hand sidebar, go to Inventory → Inventory Admin → Lots.
  2. The grid shows every lot with columns for SKU, Product, Lot #, Mfr Code, Manufactured, Expiry, On Hand, Reserved, Landed Cost, Unit Cost, and Cost Value.
  3. Use the column filters (text, date range, number range) to narrow results. Toolbar quick-filters let you show only expired, expiring soon, or no expiry lots, or filter by stock status (in stock / fully used).

Tip: Sort by the Expiry column to see which lots are closest to expiring.

2. Adding a new lot directly

You can create a lot outside the receiving workflow from the Lots Admin page:

  1. Click Add lot in the toolbar.
  2. Search for and select the SKU (only lot-tracked products appear).
  3. Fill in the required fields:
    • Lot # — a unique identifier for this batch.
    • Manufactured date — the production/manufacture date.
    • Expiry date — must be on or after the manufactured date.
  4. Optionally add a Manufacturer code.
  5. Click Save to close, or Save and add new to immediately add another lot for the same SKU.

Lots can also be created during a receiving report. When processing a receipt, use Create Lot to enter the lot number, manufactured date, and expiry date at the time of receiving.

3. Editing a lot

  1. In the Lots Admin grid, click the ⋮ (actions) menu on the row you want to change.
  2. Select Edit.
  3. Update any of the lot's metadata — Lot #, Manufactured date, Expiry date, or Manufacturer code.
    • If you change the Lot #, Luminous will ask you to confirm, since lot numbers trace stock history.
  4. Click Save.

4. Bulk-updating expiry dates

If a batch of lots all share the same expiry date (e.g., a large shipment from one supplier):

  1. Check the boxes next to the lots you want to update in the grid.
  2. Click Bulk update in the toolbar.
  3. Fill in only the fields you want to change — Manufacturer code, Manufactured date, and/or Expiry date. Any field left blank is left unchanged.
  4. Click Update to apply.

Note: Lot numbers are excluded from bulk update because they must remain unique per product.

5. Expiry status indicators

Luminous automatically classifies each lot based on its expiry date:

StatusMeaning
ExpiredThe expiry date has already passed.
Expiring soonThe expiry date is within the next 30 days.
OKThe expiry date is more than 30 days away.
NoneNo expiry date was recorded for this lot.

Use the toolbar filter on the Lots Admin page to isolate expired or expiring-soon lots quickly and take action (adjust, delete, or quarantine as needed).

6. Automatic shelf-life fulfillment with FEFO

FEFO (First Expired, First Out) tells Luminous to automatically deduct from the lot with the soonest expiry date whenever inventory is consumed on a shipment — ensuring the shortest-lived stock ships first.

You can set the deduction strategy at three levels; the most specific setting wins:

Tenant-wide default

  1. Go to Settings → Inventory.
  2. Locate the Lot Deduction Strategy setting.
  3. Choose FEFO — first expired, first out and save.

Per warehouse group

  1. Go to Manage → Locations and click Warehouse Groups.
  2. Open the warehouse group you want to configure.
  3. Set Lot Deduction Strategy to FEFO (or leave it as Inherit to follow the tenant default).
  4. Save.

Per SKU (product)

  1. Navigate to the SKU's edit page (Inventory → SKUs → select product → Edit).
  2. Find the Lot Deduction Strategy field.
  3. Choose FEFO, FIFO, or Inherit (to follow the warehouse group or tenant default).
  4. Save.

Available strategies:

StrategyBehavior
FEFODeducts from lots with the earliest expiry date first. Lots without an expiry date are used last. Splits across lots as needed.
FIFODeducts from the oldest lots first (by the order they were received).
Default / InheritUses the legacy single-lot selection behavior (largest on-hand quantity at the target bin).

FEFO only applies to automatic inventory deductions (e.g., when a shipment is created without a manual picklist). Manual pick-and-pack lot selection is not affected.

7. Viewing lot details and stock by location

Click View from the row actions (or click any lot's name) to open the lot detail page, which shows:

  • The lot's metadata (Lot #, manufactured/expiry dates, manufacturer code).
  • A per-bin breakdown of on-hand and reserved quantities.
  • Cost information (landed cost, unit cost, cost value).

8. Reports

  • Lot Report (Insights → Reports → search "Lot"): Shows lot number, original and current quantity, and expiry date. Filterable by SKU, expiry date, and warehouse.
  • Sales Order Lot Tracking Report: Shows which lot numbers were shipped against specific sales orders.