Free Daily Shop Schedule Excel Template
Hour-by-hour job assignment per work center for the next 24 hours. The dispatch list the shop floor actually reads at the start of every shift.
What you get
Working daily schedule with hourly granularity per work center. Real-time updates as jobs complete or shift. The dispatch list the floor actually uses.
Free 30-day trial · No credit card required · Used by manufacturers since 1991
Why manufacturers still use Excel for this
A daily shop schedule is different from a weekly plan in granularity, not concept. The weekly plan says "Job 1234 runs at Mill 2 on Tuesday." The daily schedule says "Job 1234 starts at Mill 2 at 8:30 AM Tuesday, runs 4.5 hours, then Job 1235 takes over at 1:30 PM." That precision is what the shop floor needs to execute.
Most shops produce a daily dispatch list — paper, Excel, or whiteboard. The format matters less than the discipline of producing it every morning before first shift. Operators starting the day with a clear list of what to run next have 20–30% fewer "what do I do" interruptions to supervisors.
This template gives you that dispatch list in a printable format, with hourly time slots, job numbers, item numbers, quantities, and setup time noted. As jobs complete or shift, the template updates and reprints. Past the point where this manual update becomes a chore, finite-capacity scheduling software (RMDB) handles the same flow automatically.
What's inside the template
Hourly schedule grid
Per work center, time slots in 30-minute increments from shift start to shift end. Each slot shows the active job.
Job detail per slot
Job number, item, customer, quantity, estimated hours, setup time. Enough info for operators to execute without questions.
Material readiness flag
Per job, confirmation that material is staged at the work center. Red flag = material not ready, job at risk.
Dispatch list printable
One-page-per-work-center printable format. Goes to the shop floor at the start of each shift.
Real-time progress update
As jobs complete, the template updates remaining schedule. Late-running jobs cascade downstream automatically.
Shift handoff report
End-of-shift summary: planned vs completed, late jobs, issues encountered. Hands off to the next shift cleanly.
How to use this template
A practical walkthrough, from the sample data to a plan built on your own numbers.
- 1
Build at end-of-shift, not start-of-shift
Build tomorrow's schedule before the team leaves today. Operators arriving to a complete dispatch list start working immediately. Operators waiting for a schedule lose 30 minutes per day.
- 2
Sequence by setup
Within each work center, group jobs requiring similar setup. Sequencing well frees 5–10% of daily capacity through setup avoidance.
- 3
Block time for known disruptions
PM, breaks, training, shift change overhead — block these in the schedule. Pretending they do not exist makes the schedule fail by 10 AM.
- 4
Update at shift change
The schedule that started the day is rarely the schedule that ended it. Update at the shift handover so the next shift starts with current reality.
When you outgrow this template
Excel is the right answer for early-stage planning, until it isn't. These are the warning signs that you need a real production scheduling tool.
If three or more of these apply, you have outgrown spreadsheet planning. EDGEBIC, the current generation of RMDB, is User Solutions' finite capacity scheduling and production planning software. It imports the same orders, routings, work centers and stock from Excel, CSV or your ERP, schedules them against real machine, labor and material limits, and shows the result on a drag-and-drop Gantt chart. It is a one-time license: EDGEBIC APS is $25,000, and EDGEBIC Complete, which adds MRP, inventory and purchasing, is $35,000.
See EDGEBICNot ready to decide? Read what actually changes when you move off the spreadsheet, or see the published price before you talk to anyone.
Frequently asked questions
How granular should the schedule be?+
30-minute slots is right for most shops. 15-minute is too granular (people cannot dispatch that precisely; the false precision wastes time). Hourly is too coarse for short-cycle work. 30 minutes balances precision against maintenance overhead.
How do I handle jobs that take longer than expected?+
The schedule cascades downstream — late completion of Job A pushes Job B's start. The template reflects that automatically. The supervisor decides: catch up with overtime, push customer dates, or move work to an alternate work center.
Who maintains the daily schedule?+
A dedicated dispatcher or planning person in larger shops; the production supervisor in smaller shops. Operators do not maintain the schedule — they execute against it. Mixing roles confuses ownership.
What if the customer changes priority mid-day?+
Three options: (1) swap the new priority into the current slot and push the bumped job, (2) accept the new priority but schedule it later in the day, (3) push back to the customer with a revised commitment. The template makes the tradeoff visible (what gets pushed if we do this) so the decision is informed.
Start with the spreadsheet. Move to EDGEBIC when it breaks.
The template handles the math for a small plan. EDGEBIC is what manufacturers move to when orders, routings and capacity change faster than a spreadsheet can follow: published one-time pricing, and implementation measured in days.