CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Automatic detecting of spoiled items is required to efficiently support the supply chain. As exact

storage conditions are unpredictable, off-line setting of the expiration date is an inaccurate way

to inform customers of the quality or safety of a product. In recent years, in the context of

inventory management, a technology called time–temperature indicator (TTI) or smart tag has

been developed. This technology enables retailers to determine on-line the actual quality

condition of a product compared with its announced expiry date (Avi et.al, 2014). In situations

where the product is unexpectedly damaged, the TTI-based automatic device (AD) will alert the

retailer. The technology reduces the risk of selling damaged products to customers. TTI-based

ADs use chemical reactions to exhibit an irreversible change in the expiry-date label's color in

response to the combined effects of time and temperature. A wide array of TTI-based ADs is

available on the market, based on different technologies. Simple devices are based on migration

of dye through a filter paper, while more complicated ones contain pouches with bacterial fluids

that change color when a certain time–temperature combination has been reached. TTI-based

ADs are often made as labels. (Antai & Avi, Mutshinda 2016)

Products are considered as the business resources for the organization. This includes managing

the product with appropriate way to review any time as per the requirement. Therefore, it is

important to have a web-based Product Expiration System which has the ability to generate

reports, report products expiry dates, maintain the balance of the stock, details about the

purchase and sales in the organization, which helps to minimize loses to the business or negative
health hazards to consumers (Asamoah et.al, 2015). These web application can be used by large

or small business organization for the management of their stock in the production houses. After

analyzing the other Product Expiration systems, we decided to include some of common and key

features that should be included in every Product Expiration system. A possible way for retailers

to entice customers to purchase a perishable product and eventually increase profits is by

offering a price discount that increases when the product approaches its expiry date. This will

reduce inventory cost, either by avoiding the need for discarding outdated inventory or of

returning the product to the manufacturer. (Elmaghraby and Keskinocak, 2015) carry out a

review of the literature and current practices in dynamic pricing in inventory.

Expiration of product is one of the major problems manufacturing industries face in Nigeria.

Expiry date is defined as an assurance that the product should meet applicable standards of

identity, strength, quality and purity at the time of use. (Farrugia, 2015), he further indicated that

the definition is only applicable under storage conditions specified by the manufacturer on the

labelling and packaging.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Health hazards to consumers and the huge loss to businesses have been the major challenges

posed by expired products. Manually taking stock of products by small scale/medium scale

business owners are still prone to human errors. When consumers are exposed to expired

products, they may have various health challenges ranging from stomach upsets to food

poisoning (which may result to death). Apart from lawsuits the shop owner may face, he will be

losing money if the products in the store expires without his notice. These challenges are the

main reasons the project tend or sought to develop a computerized system that notifies shop

owners and managers of impending products that are about to expire.

1,3 Aim and Objectives

The aim of this project is to develop a product expiry alert management system and it is achieved

with the following objectives:

i. To design a database system that will keep tracks of the items in the store

ii. To detect the about to expire products and send out signal via email or text message for

prompt action by the manufactural or the management

iii. To implement a web base system using PHP, MYSQL and Bootstrap technology that will

help in the tracking of expiring or expired products.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The significance of this project will assist business owners take stock and regulate products

before it expires, it will solve the tedious work and activities in calculating and taking stocks of

large product for large business owners in which they end up missing expiry dates, miss-

calculating. At the end of day, the system will be able to send notification to the inventory

managers about products that are about to expire. The products in the system will be sorted out in

ascending order according to the date of expiratory. Therefore, making it easier for inventory

managers to sort out products that are to expire in few days.

1.5 Scope of the Study

Product Expiration System is targeted to the small and medium business and organization, which

doesn’t have proper records of their products, also for those organization that deals with products

that expire, a proper system to keep track of product expiration is important. The study will focus

primarily on Shoprite Mall.

1.6 Definition of Terms

Inventory: A complete list of items such as properly, goods in stock, or the contents of a

building/warehouse.

Stock: The goods or merchandise kept on the premises of a shop or warehouse and available for

sale or distribution.

Product: An article or substance that is manufactured, refined for sale.

Expiry date: Date of shelf life of a product might still be safe, but quality is no longer

guaranteed.

Wed application – A wed application is a computer application program that utilizes web

browsers and web technology to perform takes over the internet.

Transaction – an instance of buying or selling something

Sublime Text: Sublime Text is a cross-platform text and source code editor, with an application

programming interface (API). Sublime Text is proprietary software. Its functionality is

extendable with plugins. Most of the extending packages have free-software licenses and are

community-built and maintained.

Bootstrap: is a sleek, intuitive, and powerful mobile first front-end framework for faster and

easier web development. It uses HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Database: A database is an organized collection of data, generally stored and accessed

electronically from a computer system

PHP: PHP is a server side scripting language that is used to develop Static websites or Dynamic

websites or Web applications. PHP stands for Hypertext Pre-processor, that earlier stood for

Personal Home Pages.

XAMPP: XAMPP is a free and open source cross platform web server solution stack package.

It’s an acronym for Cross-Platform, Apache, MariaDB/MySQL,Perl and Php.

MYSQL: A database management system for creating, storing and manipulating databases.