Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks
Coordinate and expedite the flow of work and materials within or between departments of an establishment according to production schedule. Duties include reviewing and distributing production, work, and shipment schedules; conferring with department supervisors to determine progress of work and completion dates; and compiling reports on progress of work, inventory levels, costs, and production problems.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Time Management
- Critical Thinking
- Writing
- Monitoring
- Complex Problem Solving
Key knowledge
- Production and Processing
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Administrative
- Administration and Management
- Computers and Electronics
- Mathematics
- Transportation
What the work involves
- Review documents, such as production schedules, work orders, or staffing tables, to determine personnel or materials requirements or material priorities.
- Confer with department supervisors or other personnel to assess progress and discuss needed changes.
- Revise production schedules when required due to design changes, labor or material shortages, backlogs, or other interruptions, collaborating with management, marketing, sales, production, or engineering.
- Confer with establishment personnel, vendors, or customers to coordinate production or shipping activities and to resolve complaints or eliminate delays.
- Requisition and maintain inventories of materials or supplies necessary to meet production demands.
- Distribute production schedules or work orders to departments.
- Compile information, such as production rates and progress, materials inventories, materials used, or customer information, so that status reports can be completed.
- Arrange for delivery, assembly, or distribution of supplies or parts to expedite flow of materials and meet production schedules.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Conventional, Enterprising, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (36.8% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (29.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (40.9%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Moderate | Lower on contact with others than 58% of occupations compared | 65% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Higher on dealing with the public than 52% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 89% of occupations compared | 77% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very high | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 86% of occupations compared | 66% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very high | Higher on time pressure than 93% of occupations compared | 67% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | High | Higher on conflict situations than 66% of occupations compared | 40% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Moderate | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 57% of occupations compared | 31% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 60% of occupations compared | 38% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very high
- Conflict situations: high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: moderate
- Consequence of error: high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 9.15%
- Occasional contact with others: 0%
- Contact with others about half the time: 8.24%
- Contact with others most of the time: 17.82%
- Constant contact with others: 64.79%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 13.83%
- Fairly important: 23.02%
- Important: 9.43%
- Very important: 10.38%
- Extremely important: 43.34%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2022
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 4.9%
- Very important: 18.45%
- Extremely important: 76.65%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2022
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 0%
- Limited freedom: 7.17%
- Some freedom: 26.43%
- A lot of freedom: 66.4%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2022
Time pressure
- Never: 2.4%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 1.54%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 1.87%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 26.87%
- Every day: 67.33%
n = 24, Incumbent 08/2022
Conflict situations
- Never: 12.12%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 28.85%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 9.2%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 39.51%
- Every day: 10.32%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2022
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 14.81%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 22.1%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 30.83%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 21.94%
- Every day: 10.32%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2022
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 18.8%
- Fairly serious: 22.8%
- Serious: 16.51%
- Very serious: 4.07%
- Extremely serious: 37.82%
n = 25, Incumbent 08/2022
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O*NET-SOC 43-5061.00 · SOC 43-5061 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8