If your fabrication shop plans production in Excel, don't start by replacing the schedule. Start with the records the schedule depends on: one job list everyone uses, a bill of materials (BOM) or cut list for each job, material booked to jobs, and labour hours recorded against each job and operation. Once those live in a proper system, the production schedule can be built from them, and the spreadsheet can go back to being a tool for working out "what if" rather than the only record of what's happening on the floor. Moving the schedule first usually just recreates the spreadsheet in a more expensive tool.
This post is for owners and production managers in fabrication, engineering and make-to-order job shops. It sets out what to move off Excel, in what order, and when you need MRP.
Why the Excel production plan stops working
The plan usually starts as one person's spreadsheet: jobs down the side, weeks across the top, colours for status. It works well while the shop is small and that person is in every conversation. It starts to fail when:
- Jobs are typed in twice: once in the quote or job system, again in the plan, and sometimes a third time on the job card. That's double data entry.
- Material isn't linked to jobs. The plan says a job starts Monday, but nobody checked whether the plate and RHS are on the rack or on order.
- Capacity is a guess. The plan shows jobs by week, not hours by work centre, so the saw is overloaded while the press brake sits idle.
- The floor doesn't update it. Progress lives on paper travellers and in people's heads, so the plan drifts from reality by Wednesday.
- Job cost comes too late. Hours and material aren't booked to the job as it goes, so you only find out what a job cost after it ships. Our post on why job cost is a guess until a job ships covers this in detail.
What to move off Excel first
Move things in this order. Each step makes the next one easier, and each is useful on its own.
1. One job register
Every job gets one number, created once (usually when the quote is accepted) and used everywhere: on the drawings, the job card, purchase orders, time records and the invoice. Due dates, customer and status live here. This alone removes a lot of re-typing.
2. BOMs and cut lists per job
For each job, record what it needs: the BOM for standard products, or a cut list and parts list for one-off work. This is the link between the job and material. It doesn't have to be perfect on day one. Standard products first, then the one-offs.
3. Material booked to jobs
Purchase orders raised against jobs, stock issued to jobs, and offcuts and extra lengths recorded. Now you can see whether a job's material is here, on order or missing before it reaches the schedule.
4. Operations and time capture
Break each job into operations (cut, fold, weld, machine, paint, assemble) and record hours against the job and operation, on a tablet or terminal on the floor rather than a timesheet filled in on Friday. This is what makes job costing and capacity planning possible.
5. Then the schedule
With jobs, materials and operations in a system, the schedule can show load by work centre, flag jobs waiting on material, and update as the floor records progress. At this point the schedule is a view of real data, not a separate file to keep in step.
When it's working, it looks like this: on Monday morning the production manager sees this week's jobs by work centre, which ones are short of material, and last week's actual hours against quoted hours for every job that finished.
BOM production planning and MRP for a small manufacturing business
MRP (material requirements planning) works out what material you need, and when, from the BOMs of the jobs you've committed to, what's in stock and what's already on order. It's the step that tells purchasing what to buy this week.
You need MRP when:
- you build from repeat BOMs, not just one-off drawings,
- material lead times are long enough that late ordering delays jobs,
- or you hold stock across many items and keep running short of some while overstocking others.
For pure one-off fabrication with short lead times, a well-kept job register with cut lists and material booked to jobs often does most of what you need, without full MRP.
Most MRP systems for small manufacturing businesses can do this, including ERP systems such as ERPNext, which can run manufacturing, stock and purchasing alongside your existing accounting software, with the accounts staying where they are. The system matters less than the order of the work above. An MRP system fed by inaccurate BOMs and unrecorded stock movements gives confident wrong answers.
Keeping the systems connected
Production planning sits between several systems: quoting, purchasing, stock, the floor, payroll and the accounts. The connections are where the value is:
- the accepted quote creates the job, with its BOM, so nobody re-types it,
- floor hours go to the job cost and to payroll from the same record,
- material receipts and supplier bills land on the job, not in general expenses,
- and finished jobs show quoted vs actual automatically.
Our manufacturing production planning service covers this, and our manufacturing industry page shows the wider pattern.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Excel for production planning in a fabrication shop?
There's no single best product. The bigger question is what the plan reads from. Move jobs, BOMs, material and time capture into a system first; then a scheduling module or tool built on that data will work. Without them, any tool ends up as a more expensive spreadsheet.
Do we need MRP or just production scheduling software?
Production scheduling software decides when work happens on which machine or team. MRP decides what material to buy and when. One-off fabrication shops often need scheduling and good job costing more than MRP. Shops with repeat products and long lead times usually need both.
How do we capture labour hours against jobs on the floor?
Simple terminals or tablets at work centres, where staff start and stop a job and operation. Keep it to a couple of taps, or people won't use it.
Can we keep using Excel for some planning?
Yes. Excel is still good for what-if planning, such as testing a rush job or an extra shift. The difference is that it reads from the system rather than being the only record.
What does fabrication job costing need from the planning system?
Hours by job and operation, material issued to the job, subcontract costs on the job, and the quote broken down the same way, so quoted and actual can be compared line by line.
Next step
If your production plan lives in one person's spreadsheet and the floor works from paper, book a free initial chat and we'll talk through where to start. If you'd like the whole flow mapped first, from quote to floor to invoice, our $5,000 Process & Systems Audit gives you a written report and a clear order of work.