Material Requisition Form for Production (Free Excel)

A material requisition is production's written request to the stockroom: issue these materials, in these amounts, for this batch. The stockroom fills it, writes down what it gave and from which lot, and whatever comes back after the batch is written on the same sheet. It's how stock leaves the shelf on purpose rather than by someone helping themselves, and it's the record that explains, at the next count, where 80 pounds of washing soda went. Below is what goes on one, a filled-in example for a batch of laundry powder, how it differs from a purchase requisition, and a free template that scales the amounts from the batch size by formula.

The short version

• One requisition for each batch or job: what it's for, how many units, when it's needed.
• List each material with its amount per unit made; the batch size sets how much to ask for.
• The stockroom writes what it issued and the lot it came from.
• Production writes what came back; the sheet works out what was used.
• Mark short lines before the batch starts, not halfway through it.
• Keep a log, so an open requisition doesn't wait on a shelf.
• TaroStack scales the materials from the recipe, records the lots a batch used, and takes them off stock. More below.

What goes on a material requisition

The amount per unit comes from the formula or recipe, so the requisition is really the formula multiplied by the batch. How a formula becomes a list of materials and amounts is in bill of materials for food; the same works for soap or cleaning products.

A filled-in example: a batch of laundry powder

Blue Door Cleaning Co., a made-up household products maker in Minneapolis, Minnesota, I use in these examples, makes 100 two-pound pouches of laundry powder, batch LP-261020A, to formula version 3:

Three things happened that the sheet keeps. The stockroom issued the rest of an open bag of soap flakes, 27.5 pounds, and 1.5 came back, so the batch used exactly the formula's 26. Labels were short by five, so five pouches were labeled from the next roll the following day, and the label is now on the reorder list. And 100 pouches need nine cases, eight full and one with four, which the check marks Over because part of a case still takes a whole box. The lots are what a recall asks for later; why they belong on a production record is in track ingredients by lot.

Material requisition, purchase requisition, purchase order

A material requisition that comes up short is often what starts a purchase: the labels above. What a purchase order should carry when it goes out is in what should a purchase order include.

Why it matters at the count

When the count says there's less washing soda than the books, the requisitions are the first place to look: every pound that left the shelf for a batch is written down with the batch it went to, and anything missing beyond that is a real difference. Without them, every batch is a guess and so is the count. How to work out a difference between the books and the shelf is in inventory variance formula, and the usual reasons they don't match are in why inventory does not match.

Get the template

Download the material requisition form. Three sheets: a blank requisition that prints on one landscape page, where Requested fills in from the units to make, Used from what was issued and returned, and the check marks Short or Over; the laundry powder batch above, filled in; and a requisition log with a status list. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

A requisition on paper asks for what the formula says, but it doesn't know whether the stockroom has it until someone walks over, and the amounts issued don't leave the books until someone types them in. With a few batches a week, the requisitions, the shelf and the books drift apart, and the count finds out.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack scales the materials from the recipe, records the lots a batch used, and takes them off stock.

The materials from the recipe. A production order for 100 pouches takes formula version 3 as it was when you planned it and scales every material to the batch, and "what could I make right now" shows whether the shelf has enough before anyone walks to the stockroom.

The batch records what it used. Each batch records the materials and the lots it used on its own, with the good and rejected pouches, and takes them off stock, so the books move when the batch does.

Short before it starts. Materials running low come up on a reorder list in days of cover, and anything left over that goes back on the shelf, or into the bin, is an adjustment with its reason, so the count has an answer.

Recipes, production orders, batches and lots are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

What is a material requisition?

Production's written request to the stockroom to issue materials from stock for a batch or job, with what was issued, from which lot, and what came back.

What's the difference between a material requisition and a purchase requisition?

A material requisition takes something already in stock off the shelf for production. A purchase requisition asks for something to be bought.

What should a material requisition form include?

The requisition number, date, who asks, the batch it's for and how many units, when it's needed, who approved it, and for each material: the amount per unit, the amount requested, issued, the lot, returned, and used.

Who approves a material requisition?

Whoever runs production or the stockroom; in a small business, often the owner. The point is that one person agrees the stock should leave the shelf, and the sheet says who.