The Goal Book, The Goal Audio Book
About The Goal, by Eliyahu Goldratt
Eliyahu Goldratt's book The Goal,
A Process of Ongoing Improvement is an entertaining,
intriguing novel and at the same time, a thought provoking business book.
The story is about a plant manager, Alex Rogo, whose plant and marriage are
going downhill. He finds himself in the unenviable position of having ninety
days in which to save his plant. An airport meeting with an old
acquaintance, Jonah, introduces him to the Theory of Constraints
(ToC). He uses this new way of thinking to discover a new purpose
for his plant and for his people, find some tools to improve his
performance, and in the end, save his business and everyone's job.
Eliyahu Goldratt does an excellent job explaining his concepts, especially how to work with constraints and bottlenecks. You'll find yourself empathizing with Alex Rogo, his family, and team. Don't be surprised if you find yourself cheering for Alex to succeed.
The importance and benefits of focusing on the activities that are constraints are clearly described with several examples in The Goal. One example from the book is the one in which Alex takes his son and a group of Boy Scouts out on a hiking expedition. Here Alex faces a constraint in the form of the slowest boy, Herbie. Alex gets to apply two of the principles of the theory of constraints.
Alex's friend Jonah teaches him about "dependent events" (events in which the output of one event influences the input to another event) and "statistical fluctuations" (common cause variations in output quantity or quality). Alex comes to the realization that in a chain of dependent processes, statistical fluctuations can occur at any step. These result in delays between the process steps that accumulate and become amplified throughout the system, leading to a significant decline in the output of the system.
Although this book is excellent in the context of production and operations, the concepts of finding the leverage point of your business works on any system where you have a process and variation.
This book is required reading at the best MBA programs in the world. Find out why.
From Publishers Weekly
In this intriguing, readable business novel, which
illustrates state-of-the-art economic theory, Alex Rogo is a UniCo plant manager
whose factory and marriage are failing. To revitalize the plant, he follows
piecemeal advice from an elusive former college professor who teaches, for
example, that reduction in the efficiency of some plant operations may make the
entire operation more productive. Alex's attempts to find the path to
profitability and to engage his employees in the struggle involve the reader;
and thankfully the authors' economic models, including a game with match sticks
and bowls, are easy to understand. Although some characters are as anonymous as
the goods manufactured in the factory, others ring true. In addition, the tender
story of Alex and his wife's separation and reconciliation makes a touching
contrast to the rest of the book. Recommended for anyone with an interest in the
state of the American economy.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.