ORIGINAL COMPANY-CONTEXT PRACTICE
Allocate synthetic stock with expiry constraints
Original practice scenario: A hypothetical snack distributor assigns batches to store orders with minimum remaining shelf life. Explain an algorithm and its limitations.
Written for independent practice using company context; this is not a verified question from a company interview.
A REASONED APPROACH
Model answer.
Eligibility depends on arrival date and each order's shelf-life requirement. First-expiry-first-out is useful only among compatible batches, and a greedy choice can block a later constrained order.
Work through it
- Validate units, estimated arrival times and expiry dates, then construct eligible batch-order relationships with quantities and documented tie-break rules.
- Use a deterministic heuristic for simple cases or a flow/optimization formulation when competing constraints matter; independently validate all resulting allocations.
- Test scarce long-life stock, partial orders, identical expiry dates and delayed delivery, checking quantity conservation and unmet-order explanations.
Tradeoffs to discuss
- Optimization can improve global fulfillment but costs computation and needs a clear objective; heuristics are simpler with weaker guarantees.
Common pitfalls
- Do not allocate a batch based only on its departure-day shelf life.
- Re-evaluate eligibility when an arrival estimate changes.