Running a machine shop on Excel
Plenty of good shops run on a spreadsheet: one row per PO line, a due date, the current step, and someone who keeps it honest. Below is the open-order tracker we'd use (free Excel download), the habits that keep it working, and the five signs it's time for real job-shop software.
Free open-order tracker (Excel)
Download open-order-tracker.xlsx
One row per PO line. The columns:
| Column | Why |
|---|---|
| Customer, Customer PO, PO date, Line | So you can answer a buyer by their PO number, not yours. |
| Part number, Rev, Description | Rev is the one that bites. Keep it on every line. |
| Qty ordered, Qty shipped, Qty left | Qty left fills itself in. Partial shipments stay visible. |
| Unit price | So you can see what's at stake on a late line. |
| Due date, Days to due | Days to due fills itself in. Sort by it every morning. |
| Current step | Saw, Op 10, Op 20, deburr, at vendor, inspection, ready. |
| Outside vendor, Vendor promised | The plater's or heat treater's promised date. Late jobs hide here. |
| Status | A dropdown: Not started, In work, At vendor, Inspection, Ready to ship, Partial, Shipped, On hold. |
Habits that keep a spreadsheet honest
- One owner. Others tell them; they update it. A sheet everyone edits drifts in a week.
- Update at the same time every day, end of first shift, from the travelers.
- Sort by Days to due every morning. Anything under three days that isn't Ready to ship gets a phone call today.
- Call the vendor two days before their promised date, not on it.
- Never delete a shipped line until it's paid. Move it to an Archive sheet.
Five signs you've outgrown it
- Buyers call or email for status every week and someone walks the floor to answer.
- The same PO is typed three times: the sheet, the traveler, QuickBooks.
- Jobs ship late because nobody saw the plater slip.
- Two people edited the sheet and one change got lost.
- Only one person really knows what's going on, and the shop slows down when they're out.
On Reddit, "How do smaller manufacturers build 'ERP systems' using Excel?" and "Is it true that small-med manufacturing companies are using excel + email for RFQ + follow ups?" each drew around 50 replies in the last year. You're in good company. The question is what it costs you in hours and late jobs.
What moving off Excel takes with Tehdo
- Send us the sheet (this template or your own) and one recent PO.
- We load your open lines, customers, parts and steps, and email you the link the same day.
- Forward your next PO; Tehdo reads it. Your people see their tasks on a phone or the shop PC.
- Your buyers get a link that shows where their order is, so the status calls stop.
VTN Manufacturing in San Jose ran on notebooks and a spreadsheet of about 600 rows. It went live on Tehdo the afternoon we visited, and read 84 POs from email in its first five weeks.
Questions
Is Excel good enough to run a machine shop?
For a few people and a few dozen open lines, yes, if one person owns it and updates it daily. It breaks down when several people edit it, when buyers want status, when outside processing hides late jobs, and when the same PO is typed into three places.
How do I move from a spreadsheet to software?
Clean up the open lines (customer, PO, part, rev, quantities, due date, current step), then import them. With Tehdo we do the import from your sheet, so your shop is running on its real orders the same day.