10 Key Attributes Production, Planning, And Expediting Clerks Need To Succeed In Their Career

by Alex Garcia

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

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.

The core tasks that production, planning, and expediting clerks are likely to carry out include:

Examine documents, materials, or products and monitor work processes to assess completeness, accuracy, and conformance to standards and specifications.
Review documents, such as production schedules, work orders, or staffing tables, to determine personnel or materials requirements or material priorities.
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 department supervisors or other personnel to assess progress and discuss needed changes.
Confer with establishment personnel, vendors, or customers to coordinate production or shipping activities and to resolve complaints or eliminate delays.
Record production data, including volume produced, consumption of raw materials, or quality control measures.

In order to successfully forge ahead with their careers, analysts in a survey carried out by U.S. Department of Labor (via O*NET) have marked out the following as important attributes that production, planning, and expediting clerks would need. These attributes have been selected from characteristics and requirements strongly associated with the occupation. They are

Abilities: Enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance
Interests: Preferences for work environments. Occupational Interest Profiles (OIPs) are compatible with Holland's (1985, 1997) model of personality types and work environments. Six interest categories are used to describe the work environment of occupations: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. An OIP consists of six numerical scores indicating how descriptive and characteristic each work environment (or interest area) is for an occupation
Knowledge: Organized sets of principles and facts applying in general domains
Skills: These include basic skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge. Plus cross-functional skills, which are developed capacities that facilitate performance of activities that occur across jobs
Style: Personal characteristics that can affect how well someone performs a job

We have listed out attributes which were scored 80% or more in terms of importance by the analysts.

Being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 96.6%

Having a strong preference for conventional work environments. Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
Attribute Type: Interests Score: 95.29%

Being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 93.4%

Accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 88.6%

Being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 88.4%

A willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86.6%

Developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 86.6%

Persistence in the face of obstacles.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 85%

Being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
Attribute Type: Style Score: 83.4%

Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Attribute Type: Knowledge Score: 81.2%