Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks
Office and Administrative Support
Schedules, work orders, and staffing tables are reviewed to see what people and materials a job needs, then sent out to the right departments. When design changes, shortages, or backlogs interrupt a plan, the timetable is revised with supervisors and with management, production, sales, marketing, or engineering. Supplies and parts are ordered and sent to assembly or shipping; vendors and customers are contacted to clear delays or complaints. Progress, inventory, costs, and production problems go into reports, and later commitments are planned from sales forecasts. The role suits people who like tracking deadlines across departments and sorting out what is blocking a schedule.
Typical education: High School Diploma or GED
Annual Median Wage in Field (2025)
$59'650
Median Wage Market Position
$59'650
What you might do
- Send work orders and schedules to departments
- Review schedules to see what materials are needed
- Change timelines when shortages or backlogs arise
- Arrange delivery of supplies to the right department
- Talk with supervisors about progress and delays
- Order and keep stock of needed materials
Skills that matter
- Reading production schedules and work orders
- Conferring with supervisors on completion dates
- Revising timelines after shortages or backlogs
- Setting material priorities from staffing tables
- Tracking inventory, costs, and work progress
- Compiling reports on production problems
AI & the future of this role
Much of this role is tracking schedules, materials, and status on screen, work software and AI tools may increasingly handle. Hands-on coordination when plans break still matters, yet demand for routine expediting and reporting is likely to soften.
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Includes O*NET® 30.3 Database information by USDOL/ETA under CC BY 4.0; modified by LostInCareer. Wage/outlook from BLS. Attribution details