Sealants, adhesives, paints and rubber seals have a limited life. Fitting one that is out of date is a finding at best and an airworthiness problem at worst. Most stores know this. The trouble is that the dates arrive in different formats, on different documents, and the check depends on someone remembering to do it.
Three dates, one rule
Every shelf-life item has three related dates:
- Cure date (or date of manufacture): printed on the packet or the certificate. Rubber parts are often marked by quarter, for example 2Q25.
- Shelf life: how long the manufacturer allows, for example 9 months for a sealant or several years for some seals.
- Expiry date: cure date plus shelf life, unless the manufacturer prints the expiry directly.
If you know any two, you know the third. Record all three at receiving, so nobody has to work it out later at the counter.
Record it at receiving, not at issue
Receiving inspection is the one point where every part passes a trained eye with the paperwork in hand. That is where the cure date and shelf life should be captured against the batch or serial number, alongside the release certificate. A part without a readable cure date should not go to the shelf until the supplier confirms it.
Issue the oldest first
Issue by expiry date, first expired, first out. When several batches of the same sealant are on the shelf, the store should be told which one to issue, not left to pick the nearest box.
Alerts before it expires, quarantine when it does
- Warn the store well ahead, for example 60 days before expiry, so stock can be used or reordered.
- On the expiry date, move the item to quarantine so it cannot be issued.
- Check storage conditions too: some materials have a shorter life once opened or if stored warm.
What an auditor will ask
Show me a shelf-life item, its cure date, its expiry, and where you recorded them. Show me what happens to expired stock. If the answer is a spreadsheet someone updates by hand, expect a question about what happens when that person is away.
In our Aviation Store, the store manager types the cure date and shelf life on the receipt, the system works out the expiry, writes the Batch Book entry, and sends the alerts.