Win98 & or Win XP
MS-Office...using XL

Sorry for this X post as I am unsure which group to post to.

I consider myself an Excel novice student with spreadsheets etc. and have
the following problem I wish to seek help with for my son.

I have tried to devise a workbook with a parts stock control system based
on a
given manufactured item GATES, which there are variants, some years ago but
have no records of it now.!
E.G.
Gate1 is a standard sized item consisting of say 30 different components,
and fixed amounts of each of the 30 different components, made up from
stock.
Gate 2 also a standard size item but of different dimensions from Gate1
above.
This pattern carries on covering say 20 gate sizes, each one having a known
amount of components.

What I am trying to achieve is creating a stock control that would deduct
the relative compnents of any given GATE, from my stock, by entering the
GATE number as a reference point, using LOOKUP maybe?

I find it difficult to put into words, but it may mean I have to purchase a
suitable software application, but I thought I may be able to do it in Excel
somehow?........anyone know of such inexpensive applications?

TIA