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Work order template
A work order is the written instruction that assigns a job to a person: what to do, on which machine or part, by when, and a record of what was done. Pick a maintenance or a production work order, fill in the fields and watch the preview update, then download it as a PDF, Word or Excel file or print it. A blank work order form to fill in by hand is under the downloads. Open work orders usually get chased by someone walking the floor; Morsa, an AI agent for plant operations, follows each one until it is closed.
Updated November 3, 2026
What is a work order?
A work order is a document that authorizes and tracks one piece of work. In maintenance it sends a technician to a machine: the problem, the priority, the safety steps, the tasks, the parts and the time spent. In production it releases a quantity of a part to the floor: the part number and revision, the quantity, the operations and work centers, the materials and the quantity good at the end. Both kinds answer the same questions: what, where, who, by when, and was it done.
The work order is also the record. Once it is closed it shows what failed, what fixed it and what it cost, which is the history you need when the same machine stops again or a customer asks how a batch was made.
What to include on a maintenance work order
These are the fields the maintenance preset above prints, in the order a technician reads them.
| Field | Why it matters | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Work order number | How people refer to the job | WO-24-0412 |
| Date created, due date and priority | Sets the order the work gets done in | High, due tonight |
| Requested by and assigned to | One owner, so the job does not wait | Rosa requested; Priya assigned |
| Machine or asset, asset ID, location | Sends the technician to the right machine | Lathe 6, LTH-06, Cell 2 |
| Type of work | Separates repairs from planned work in your history | Repair, preventive, inspection, emergency |
| Problem or work requested | What happened, any alarm code, what was tried | Alarm 1023 bar feeder fault, cleared twice |
| Machine down, and since when | Puts the downtime on record | Down since 11:20 PM |
| Lockout/tagout required | A reminder to isolate energy before work starts | Ticked |
| Tasks with done by and hours | The steps, who did each and the labor time | Clear chips from the push rod, 0.5 h |
| Parts used with quantity and unit cost | The cost of the repair and what to restock | Push rod tip, 1 at 48.00 |
| Cause found, work done, follow-up | Turns one repair into history you can learn from | Chips wrapping; order MR inserts |
| Completed by, date, accepted by, signatures | Closes the job with a name on it | Priya; accepted by Rosa |
Need a failure code, estimated hours or a permit (hot work, confined space)? Add them in the notes; they print under Notes and safety instructions.
What to include on a production work order
A production work order, also called a job order or manufacturing order, releases a quantity of one part to the floor. Pick Production above for these fields.
| Field | Why it matters | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Part number and revision | The floor builds to one drawing version | CVB-200 Rev C |
| Quantity and unit | How many to make | 250 EA |
| Customer and sales order | Ties the job to the order it ships against | Stock order, SO-30915 |
| Drawing and material | What to make it from | 316 stainless bar, 2.0 in |
| Operations with work center, setup and run hours | The routing, in order, with the planned time | Op 10, Lathe 6, 1.0 h setup, 6.25 h run |
| Materials issued with lot or heat | Traceability if a part fails later | Heat 7Q4410 |
| Quantity good and scrapped | Closes the job against what was ordered | 248 good, 2 scrapped |
| Completed by, verified by, signatures | Who made it and who checked it | Dan; verified by quality |
Types of maintenance work orders
| Type | When it is raised | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Repair (corrective) | Something failed or is about to | Bar feeder fault, leaking cylinder |
| Preventive | On a schedule, by date or by machine hours | Monthly lubrication, filter change every 500 h |
| Inspection | A check that may lead to a repair | Weekly guard and E-stop check |
| Emergency | A safety risk or a stopped line that cannot wait | Hydraulic hose burst on the press |
Keep the type on every work order. After a few months the split between repair and preventive work tells you whether maintenance is getting ahead of breakdowns.
How to fill out a work order
Pick the type. Maintenance for a machine, production for a part.
Write the problem in the requester’s words. Include the alarm code, the time and what was already tried. “Chips wrapped on bar feeder again, cleared x2” beats “feeder broken”.
Set the priority and the due date, and assign one person or team. A work order without an owner tends to sit.
List the tasks or operations in order. Paste a list from your notes or from Excel; each line becomes a row.
Add the parts or materials with quantity, and the unit cost if you track repair cost.
Print it or send it. Leave the completion part blank on a printed copy; the technician fills it in.
Close it. Cause found, work done, hours, quantity good, signatures. Keep the closed copy with the machine’s history.
Work order example
The maintenance example in the tool comes from a sample machine shop: Lathe 6 stopped overnight on alarm 1023, a bar feeder fault, with chips wrapped around the push rod. It was cleared twice and then down 40 minutes, the third stop that week. The work order goes to Priya, the maintenance lead, at high priority for tonight, with lockout ticked, five tasks from lockout to a ten-bar test run, the push rod tip on the parts list and a follow-up to order chip breaker inserts. The production example releases 250 CVB-200 check valve bodies at Rev C through saw, lathe, deburr and inspection. Press “Start from this example” to load either one and change it into your own.
Paper, spreadsheet, CMMS or Morsa
A paper or spreadsheet work order is free and works for a few machines. It breaks down on follow-through: the form is filled in, then someone has to notice it is still open, ask the technician, find the part and tell the requester. A CMMS keeps every work order in one place, but someone still types each request in, and most are priced per user, so operators often have no login (CMMS pricing compared).
Morsa can take over the follow-through. An operator texts “Lathe 6 down again, alarm 1023” in WhatsApp or Teams, or the machine reports the fault; Morsa opens the work order with the machine, the alarm and the times, assigns it to the right technician and asks for the parts. It checks in until the job is closed, records the cause and the work done, and tells the requester the machine is back. People approve; Morsa does the chasing. At J4S, a 120-person glass plant, the same follow-through on operational commitments (the tasks people had promised) took on-time completion from about 30% to about 75% across roughly 900 commitments in four weeks.
Mistakes that keep work orders open
No single owner. “Maintenance” is not a person. Assign a name.
A vague problem. “Machine not working” sends the technician to find out what the operator already knew.
No priority or due date, so everything looks urgent and the technician has to guess the order.
Completion left blank. Without the cause and the work done, the next breakdown starts from zero.
Parts not recorded. The spare is gone from the shelf and nobody reorders it.
Closed without the requester knowing, so the operator keeps reporting a machine that was fixed.
Frequently asked questions
What is a work order form?
It is the sheet, paper or digital, that turns a request into assigned work: what has to be done, on which machine or part, by whom, by when, and a place to record what was done, the parts used and the time spent. This template is that form, filled in on screen and printed or downloaded.
What is the difference between a work request and a work order?
Anyone can raise a work request: an operator reports a noise, a leak or an alarm. A work order is the request after someone accepted it, gave it a priority and assigned it to a technician. Many plants keep one form and mark it requested, then assigned.
What is the difference between a work order and a purchase order?
A work order tells your own people to do work. A purchase order tells a supplier to deliver goods or services at an agreed price. A repair can need both: the work order for your technician and a purchase order for the spare part.
Who fills out a work order?
The requester fills in the problem, the machine and when it happened. The planner or maintenance lead sets the priority, the type of work and the assignee. The technician fills in the tasks done, the parts used, the hours, the cause found and signs it off. The requester or a supervisor accepts the work at the end.
How should work orders be numbered?
Use one running sequence per site that never repeats, often with the year, such as WO-24-0412. The number is how people refer to the job in a chat or at the shift meeting, so print it large at the top. The New work order button above moves the number up by one.
Does a work order need lockout/tagout?
OSHA 1910.147 covers servicing and maintenance where unexpected start-up or stored energy could injure workers, with limited exceptions, such as cord-and-plug equipment that is unplugged and under the sole control of the person servicing it. The standard asks for written energy control procedures and for affected employees to be told before the lockout and after it ends. Ticking the lockout box on the work order is a reminder to follow that procedure; it does not replace it.
Is there a work order template in Excel?
Yes. The Excel download keeps hours, quantities and unit costs as numbers with line totals and sums, so you can add rows or copy the totals into a log. The blank form also comes as Excel.
Related tools
WHERE MORSA FITS
Stop walking the floor to chase open work orders.
Morsa opens work orders from the operator’s message or the machine’s fault, assigns them and follows each one until it is closed. It works in WhatsApp, Teams, email or whatever your plant already runs on, next to your ERP.
