What Is Dispatch List?
Also known as: dispatching list, work center queue, shop floor dispatch, priority list
Definition
A dispatch list is a prioritized list of the operations waiting at a work center or machine, in the order they should be run, generated from the schedule and updated as jobs arrive, finish or change priority.
Dispatch List Explained
While the master schedule tells planners what will happen over weeks, the dispatch list tells a supervisor or operator what to do next on a particular machine. It typically shows the job number, part, operation, quantity, due date, priority or critical ratio, expected setup and run hours, and whether the material and tooling are ready.
The order comes from a priority rule: earliest due date, critical ratio (time remaining divided by work remaining), slack time, or the finite scheduler's computed sequence. A well-run dispatch list also accounts for operations that are not yet physically at the work center, so operators do not start something whose material is still two stations upstream.
In Infor SyteLine, work center queues and job operation lists serve this purpose and are refreshed as job transactions are posted. Infor LN provides shop floor control sessions that list planned production orders by work center. In an MES the dispatch list is usually a screen at the terminal, filtered to the operator's machine and updated live.
Why It Matters
- It turns the plan into a clear next action for each machine, reducing supervisor firefighting.
- Consistent priority rules reduce arguments about which job is hot.
- Real-time updates mean rush orders appear on the right machine without verbal relays.
- It exposes queue length per work center, a leading indicator of future late deliveries.
In Practice
Work center WC-20 has six operations waiting. The list ranks them by critical ratio: job 5107 has a ratio of 0.6 (behind schedule), job 5120 has 1.4 (comfortable). Without the list, the operator ran 5120 because the material was staged at the machine. With the list, the supervisor sees 5107 is overdue and its material is 20 minutes away, so the operator runs a short job first and then 5107.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is critical ratio?
Critical ratio is the time remaining until the due date divided by the work time remaining. A value below 1 means the job is behind schedule, 1 means on schedule, above 1 means ahead.
Who uses the dispatch list?
Production supervisors and operators use it daily to choose the next job. Planners use it to see queue lengths and spot overloaded work centers.
How is it different from a production schedule?
The schedule covers the whole plant over a horizon. The dispatch list is the work-center-level, current-shift view derived from it.
Related Terms
Finite Capacity Scheduling
Finite capacity scheduling sequences production operations against the actual available hours, machines, tooling and labor of each resource, so that no work center is loaded beyond what it can physically produce, unlike MRP which assumes infinite capacity.
Work Order
A work order is the ERP document that authorizes production of a defined quantity of an item by a due date. It snapshots the bill of materials and routing, drives material issues and labor reporting, and collects actual cost for the job.
Capacity Planning
Capacity planning is the process of comparing the labor and machine hours a production plan requires against the hours each work center actually has available, identifying overloads early enough to reschedule, add shifts, or outsource.
Work Center
A work center in SyteLine is the production location where a routing operation is performed. It carries the labor, machine, and overhead rates used to cost that operation and links to the resource group that APS uses for finite capacity scheduling.
Shop Floor Data Collection (SFDC)
Shop floor data collection (SFDC) is the capture of actual production data, such as operator labor time, quantities completed, scrap, machine run time and material usage, directly from the factory floor into the ERP or MES, ideally at the moment work happens.
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