FIFO (First In First Out)

FIFO is an acronym for First In, the First Out. It is a simple, highly versatile management method, or the way of organizing, handling and prioritization of movement of material, data or anything else. Requirements / data / material are handled in the order they entered into the system. The concept of FIFO is the mostly used in logistics and transportation, warehouse management, production logistics, programming or requirements management.

The FIFO method also has an attribute the Queue or the Pipe.

Use of the FIFO method in practice:

• Logistics and transportation: material of the earliest date is stock out first
• Programming: FIFO abstract data type is called Queue
• Operating Systems/ICT: operating systems using the FIFO indicates a communication between processes
• FIFO as the inventory valuation method