Glossary · System coordination, integration and orchestration
Task dispatching
Also known as: Job dispatching, Order dispatching
German: Auftragsdisposition
In automation and production control, task dispatching is the release of waiting tasks or jobs to resources for execution at the right time and in the right order, based on priorities, resource availability and the current state of the system.
- System integration
In one sentence
Task dispatching releases waiting tasks or jobs to resources at the right time and order, based on priorities and availability.
Example
The intralogistics controller dispatches the next transport job whenever a vehicle becomes free, choosing the job with the highest priority in the queue.
How it applies
- Engineering: A dispatcher combines a queue of waiting tasks, a Priority rule and knowledge of which resources are free. It must avoid starving low-priority tasks and double dispatching the same task.
- Operation: Dispatching reacts to disturbances in real time. Make the dispatch decisions visible and allow authorized manual overrides.
- Integration: Dispatchers at different levels (MES, line controller, fleet manager) must agree on task identifiers and states.
- Documentation: Describe the dispatching logic, priorities and override options in the system documentation, and explain task states in the user documentation.
Task dispatching vs. task assignment
Dispatching decides when a task is released to execution. Task assignment decides to which resource it goes. In many systems, one component does both at once, but it helps to specify the two decisions separately.