Work Order Template for Making Products (Free Excel)

A production work order is the instruction to make a quantity of one thing by a date: what to make, how many, for whom, the materials it needs, the steps, and room for whoever makes it to write down what happened. It's written before the work starts and filled in as it goes, and when it's done it says how many came out good and how long they took. This one is for a workshop or kitchen making products, not a repair or service ticket. Below is what goes on one, a filled-in example for a run of cutting boards, the work order log, and a free template that scales the materials from the quantity by formula.

The short version

• One work order for each run: one product, one quantity, one due date.
• Say who it's for: a customer's order, or stock.
• List the materials per unit; the quantity to make sets how much is needed.
• List the steps with the minutes you expect; the person doing each writes the minutes it took.
• At the end: made, rejected and why, good, and who checked it.
• Keep a log of every work order, so late ones show before the customer asks.
• TaroStack makes a production order from the recipe, shows whether the materials are there, and keeps the record. More below.

What goes on a work order

A work order and a batch record overlap. For food and cosmetics, the batch record is the formal record of a batch, with its ingredient lots and the checks against their limits; how one works is in what is a batch record. A work order comes first and says what to make; in a small shop, the same sheet often carries both. The steps can point to longer instructions; how to write those is in work instructions template.

A filled-in example: a run of cutting boards

High Desert Woodshop, a made-up woodshop in Bend, Oregon, I use in these examples, gets an order for 10 edge-grain maple cutting boards from a kitchen shop, and makes 11, with one spare:

The result: 11 made, 1 rejected when a check opened in the end grain at flattening, 10 good. The yield is 10 ÷ 11, or 90.9%. The run took 17.75 hours against 16.5 planned, and 106.5 minutes for each good board, where the shop's price assumed 90. That's what a work order is for: the next run buys a little more maple, plans 107 minutes a board, and the price is checked against the minutes the boards take. How to work out a yield and a scrap rate from a run like this is in batch yield formula and scrap rate formula.

The work order log

One line for each work order: its number, product, quantity, who it's for, due date, status, the day it finished, good and rejected. The template's log marks one Late when it finishes after its due date, or when the due date passes before it's finished:

A commission, made once and to a drawing, is the one that ran late; a run of boards the shop has made before finished early. Which orders to make for a customer and which for stock is in make to order vs make to stock, and fitting a week of work orders into the hours you have is in production schedule example.

Get the template

Download the work order template. Three sheets: a blank work order that prints on one page, where the materials needed fill in from the quantity to make, and the yield, the hours and the minutes for each good unit fill in at the end; the cutting board run above, filled in; and the work order log, with a status list and On time? that fills itself in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

A work order on paper doesn't know whether there's 33 board feet of maple in the rack before the run starts, it doesn't take the glue and the feet off the shelf when the run is done, and the actual minutes stay on the sheet unless someone types them into the price. With a few runs a week, the log, the rack and the prices drift apart.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack makes a production order from the recipe, shows whether the materials are there, and keeps the record.

The order from the recipe. A production order is a product, a quantity and a due date. It takes the recipe as it was when you planned it and scales every material to the quantity; "what could I make right now" shows whether the shelf has enough. Orders that are due come up as alerts.

The record as it's made. An order moves from planned to released, in progress and completed. Each batch against it records the materials used, the good and rejected quantities and the minutes of labor, and takes the materials off stock; for food and cosmetics, the batch records the lots it used on its own.

What the run cost. Each run is costed at what it used, set against the standard cost, so a run that used more than the recipe says shows up in the numbers, and the minutes of labor are on every batch, not only on a sheet.

Production orders, recipes and batches are on every plan, from $49 a month; planning a week of orders against your work centers' hours is on Standard at $99. 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 work order in manufacturing?

The instruction to make a quantity of one product by a date, with the materials, the steps, and room to record what was made, what was rejected, and how long it took.

What should be included on a work order?

The work order number, product, quantity, who it's for, due date, the recipe or drawing version, the materials per unit and in total, the steps with planned and actual minutes, the result, and who checked it.

What's the difference between a work order and a purchase order?

A purchase order buys something from a supplier; a work order makes something in your own shop. A customer's order can start both: a work order to make the product, and purchase orders for the materials it's short of.

Is a work order the same as a batch record?

Not quite. A work order says what to make before the work starts; a batch record is the formal record of a batch, with its lots and checks, written while it's made. In a small shop the same sheet often does both.