Free MRP (Material Requirements Planning) Excel Template
A practical MRP Excel template that runs a real time-phased material requirements calculation — demand explosion, net requirements, planned orders, and lot sizing in one workbook.
What you get
A working MRP Excel template plus a 30-day trial of Resource Manager for Excel (RMX) — the Excel-based MRP engine that manufacturers move to when their spreadsheet MRP starts missing reorder points.
Free 30-day trial · No credit card required · Used by manufacturers since 1991
Why manufacturers still use Excel for this
Material Requirements Planning (MRP) is the process that turns an MPS (master production schedule) into a concrete purchasing and production plan for every component. It answers the question every planner faces: "given what we are going to build, what do we need to buy or make, and when do we need it?" Done well, MRP eliminates stockouts and reduces inventory carrying cost simultaneously. Done badly, it is the single biggest driver of manufacturing chaos.
For small manufacturers without a full ERP, MRP often lives in Excel. This works surprisingly well — MRP is fundamentally a tabular calculation, and Excel was designed for tabular calculations. The limits show up when your part count grows past 200 items, your BOMs go past 3 levels, or your demand changes daily. At that point the manual updates consume more time than the MRP run saves.
This page gives you a free MRP Excel template that handles the core MRP logic correctly: gross-to-net calculations, time-phased demand explosion, scheduled receipts, lot sizing rules, and planned order release. It is the starting point. Resource Manager for Excel (RMX) is where most manufacturers move when Excel MRP becomes a bottleneck.
What's inside the template
Item master with planning attributes
Part number, lead time, lot sizing rule, safety stock, and planner code for every item in the plan.
BOM explosion table
Multi-level BOM that drives gross requirements from parent to child components automatically.
Time-phased MRP grid
Per item, per week: gross requirements, scheduled receipts, on-hand projected, net requirements, and planned order release.
Lot-sizing rules
Lot-for-lot, fixed lot size, period order quantity, and minimum batch — the same rules every real MRP system supports.
Planned order output
Ready-to-release list of planned production and purchase orders, sorted by release date and item.
MRP exception report
Flags items with negative projected balance, past-due orders, or reorder-point breaches — the exceptions a planner actually needs to see.
How to use this template
A practical walkthrough — five steps from blank spreadsheet to a working schedule.
- 1
Set up your item master
On the Items tab, list every part in your plan with its lead time, lot sizing rule, and safety stock. This is the foundation MRP calculations run against.
- 2
Build your BOMs
On the BOM tab, define parent-child relationships with quantities. Each finished good needs a complete BOM down to the raw material level for MRP to explode correctly.
- 3
Enter demand
On the Demand tab, enter forecast and firm sales orders by week for each finished good. This drives the gross requirements explosion.
- 4
Run the MRP calculation
The MRP grid auto-calculates: gross requirements (from demand), net requirements (gross minus on-hand minus scheduled receipts), and planned orders (net offset by lead time).
- 5
Review exceptions and release orders
Check the Exceptions tab for negative balances or past-due items. Release planned orders from the Output tab to procurement or production.
When you outgrow this template
Excel is the right answer for early-stage scheduling — until it isn't. Here are the warning signs that you need a real production scheduling tool.
If three or more of these apply, you have outgrown Excel scheduling. The good news: you do not have to leave Excel behind. Resource Manager for Excel (RMX) is a real finite-capacity scheduling engine that runs as an Excel add-in — so your team keeps the interface they know while gaining the scheduling power of a dedicated APS tool.
Learn about RMXFrequently asked questions
Is this MRP template really free?+
Yes. The template ships with the free 30-day trial of Resource Manager for Excel (RMX). No credit card required.
What is the difference between MRP and MPS?+
MPS (master production schedule) plans what finished goods to build at the end-item level. MRP (material requirements planning) plans what components and raw materials are needed to support the MPS. MPS comes first; MRP explodes it through the BOM.
Does the template support different lot sizing rules?+
Yes. The template supports lot-for-lot (most common), fixed lot size (for items with high setup cost), period order quantity (fixed weeks of coverage), and minimum order quantity. Each item in the master can have its own rule.
How many levels of BOM does the MRP template handle?+
The default template handles up to 5 levels of BOM, which covers most small manufacturing products. For deeper BOMs, the template can be extended, but you should consider dedicated MRP software like RMX or RMDB which supports 10+ levels natively.
Can the template run a full MRP calculation across my entire item master?+
The template is designed for a single MRP run on demand. For continuous MRP (where changes flow through the system in real time), you need a dedicated MRP tool. The template is most useful for planning cycles — weekly or bi-weekly MRP runs.
What happens when my demand changes after I run MRP?+
In the template, you re-run MRP manually — update the demand tab and the calculation re-explodes. In a real MRP system, changes are incremental and the system maintains a rolling plan. This is the biggest difference between spreadsheet MRP and software MRP.
Get the free template — plus the tool that grew up around it
The template is the starting point. Resource Manager for Excel (RMX) is what manufacturers move to when their Excel scheduler starts breaking. 35+ years in production, free 30-day trial.