Production Priority Matrix (Customer, Margin, Constraint)
A practical dispatch worksheet and scoring form that helps schedulers translate competing priorities (urgency, customer criticality, margin, and constraint impact) into consistent daily dispatch decisions. Includes scoring guidance, a simple weighted scoring example, and a fillable form to record order priorities for dispatch and S&OP exception meetings.
Production Priority Matrix — Dispatch Worksheet
Purpose
This worksheet helps dispatchers and planners turn competing priorities into consistent, auditable dispatch decisions. Score each order on four axes, use the rules to resolve conflicts, and record a clear priority category for daily dispatch and S&OP exception review.
Core rules
- Protect bottleneck throughput first. When an order uses a constrained resource (high constraint impact), preserve throughput for that resource.
- Prioritize high-criticality customer orders. Give customers with high criticality priority when doing so avoids serious business or contractual harm.
- Use margin as a tie-breaker. When scores otherwise tie, favour higher margin/unit to protect profitability.
Scoring guidance
Score each axis on a 1-to-5 scale (5 = highest priority). A simple weighted score example (manual calculation):
Weighted score = Urgency × 1.0 + Customer × 1.2 + MarginScore × 1.0 + Constraint × 1.5
Because margin is numeric, convert it to a MarginScore (for example: <10% = 1, 10–20% = 3, >20% = 5) or use your plant's standard mapping.
Example
Order 123: Urgency 4, Customer 5, MarginScore 3, Constraint 5 → Weighted = 4×1 + 5×1.2 + 3×1 + 5×1.5 = 4 + 6 + 3 + 7.5 = 20.5 → Category: A — Expedite.
Use this worksheet daily at dispatch and bring scored orders to S&OP exception meetings so decisions are consistent and defensible.
Save a personal copy, bring it to your team, or tailor the questions and workflow to fit what you are hungry to improve.
Discussion
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