This paper highlights the important factors that influence the effectiveness of the event handling process in production control activity (PAC). Five key factors have been identified by the literature study. Production schedule generation and execution strategy under uncertainty, information and communication technology usage, coordination and feedback, human factor and interaction, and the performance measurement approach are the identified factors to be taken into account. Industrial interviews with three case companies, that are participating to the research program called The Norwegian Manufacturing Future (SFI NORMAN), have been carried out in order to gain practical insights as well as support and revise the findings by relevant empirical data.