Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks Job Description, Career as a Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks, Salary, Employment

Education and Training: High School Diploma

Salary: Median— $38,620 per year

Employment Outlook: Fair

Production, planning and expediting clerks have a job profile that entails coordinating and expediting materials within or among departments of an organization, according to production schedule. Their duties involve reviewing the distribution of production and shipment schedules. They discuss the progress of work and viability of achieving completion dates with department supervisors. They are also involved in compiling progress reports of the process and notifying relevant departments of inventory levels and production problems, if any.

Production and planning clerks are involved in compilation of records related to production capacity, machine readings, and frequency of defects. They are alos involved in making work tickets for workers. They provide detailed production sheets that act as guides during manufacture and assembly processes.

Expediting clerks work with vendors and shipping agents directly to ensure seamless delivery of products within due dates. They are involved in performing quality checks on products for ensuring adherence to required specifications. They review production schedules and prioritize items as per their scheduled delivery or completion dates.

The work of production, planning and expediting clerks entails extensive collaboration with marketing, sales, production and engineering departments to ensure on-time completion of projects.

Education and Training Requirements

Production, planning and expediting clerks require a high school diploma to be eligible for jobs. Employers value candidates who have good computer skills. Knowledge of basic mathematics and its applications, fundamentals of economics, and accounting, are highly valued by employers. Production, planning and expediting clerks obtain on-the-job training under close supervision of experienced workers.

A planning, production and expediting clerk should also possess knowledge of various aspects of production processes and transportation. One should be aware of quality control techniques and costs of different production processes.

Clerical skills such as typing, recordkeeping, and efficient filing, are valued by the employer. A person should also possess good oral and written communication skills. A production, planning and expediting clerk should be able to monitor and assess performance as well as take corrective measures where required. They should have time management and complex problem solving skills for increasing performance efficiency.

Working in this field also requires the ability to work collaboratively with a range of individuals and departments, from engineers to production staff to external vendors and suppliers. Successful clerks have good “people skills” and are able to use their influence to ensure that deadlines are met and projects are completed.

Getting the Job

Production, planning and expediting clerks are hired in almost every economic sector. Job listings are regularly posted in classified section of newspapers and employment journals. Prospective candidates can also obtain information on vacancies directly from the organizations of their choice. Job vacancies are also posted on Internet based employment portals.

Advancement Possibilities and Employment Outlook

Production, planning and expediting clerks can advance in the workplace by attaining further education. They can go for various certification courses that lend them credentials in a specific area of expertise. However, the opportunities of advancement depend on the nature of organization one is associated with.

The employment rate for production, planning and expediting clerks is expected to grow slower than the average for other jobs. The decline of employment in manufacturing sectors will also limit the overall employment statistics in this profession.

Job opportunities are expected to be higher in areas such as wholesale trade and warehousing. Job openings for production, planning and expediting clerks will occur due to retirement and attrition of existing labor force to other occupations.

Since almost every industry employs production, planning, or expediting clerks, this job can be a great “foot-in-the-door” opportunity to get started in one’s desired industry.

Working Conditions

Production, planning and expediting clerks have their offices close to the production plant or warehouse of the company. Their offices are usually clean, well lit, and air-conditioned. They have to spend a lot of time collaborating with production and transportation supervisors. They also have to communicate with public and government sources representing the organization. They may even be required to interact with customers in person, or via electronic media. The work schedule for production, planning and expediting clerks involves working regular hours from Monday to Friday.

Earnings and Benefits

The median annual salary of production, planning and expediting clerks was $38,620 in May 2006. The salary for such jobs can range between $29,560 and $48,900. Production, planning and expediting clerks receive benefits similar to other workers.