When I was first assigned to read this book, I thought it was going to be a purely theoretical material. I thought it was going to be a book difficult to read and/or keep me interested to continue reading. However, this book turned to be a marvelous composition. The reader is always interested in the topic, and one can feel like being part of the plot. This book is a perfect combination of a narrative, and an explanation. The author dedicated the time and effort to make sure that anyone, who grabs this book and reads it, will be able to clearly understand the material presented. As an industrial engineering student, we are focused on improving an existent process and/or system in a facility. Moreover, we are provided with a broad set of techniques that can be utilized in accomplishing this purpose. The Goal by Goldratt is a magnificent piece of literature where industrial engineering student can see how the different techniques learned in class are applied into a real world problem.
In The Goal, Goldratt also provides the reader with a description and an example of how to apply the Theory of Constraints. Alex Rogo, a plant engineer at UniCo Manufacturing, is presented with a complex problem; he has several months of orders overdue and his plant is not capable of delivering any order in time. Therefore, Bill Peach, Alex’s boss, tells him that he has only three months to turn his plant around. As a result, Alex and his team start working in finding a solution; however, they are not capable to find it without the help of Jonah, Alex’s Physics professor. Nonetheless, it is important to mention that Jonah does not provide Alex with immediate solutions; instead, he uses the Socratic Method to teach Alex how to be able to localize the bottlenecks and non-bottlenecks of his process and to determine the goal of his plant. Therefore, after spending several days thinking about what the goal is, he is finally able to define it as “Reducing operational expenses and inventory while increasing throughput” (Goldratt 87). Jonah also teaches Alex that in every company there is dependent events and statistical fluctuations that affect the process. According to the Theory of Constraints, one must identify the bottleneck and then work around it; in other words, one must take into account the bottleneck in order to increase throughput and ultimately reach the goal. Jonah, however, after providing Alex with enough help, he takes a step back on his role and forces Alex to learn how to be able to identify the bottlenecks on his own and what approach or process to use to fix the bottlenecks. At the end, Alex finally understands that it is of utmost importance for any individual to be able to answer three questions: “‘what to change?’, ‘what to change to?’, and ‘how to cause a change?’” (Goldratt 337).
Overall, The Goal is a magnificent work that I highly recommend to any individual to read in order to understand more about the Theory of Constraints and how to become a better manager. I deeply believe that any individual who reads this book will be greatly benefited from the material presented; in my personal experience, I am pleased that I was able to read this book since I was given the opportunity to add a new technique to my engineering toolbox. I encourage any reader that is uncertain whether or not to buy this book to purchase it. I believe that it is definitely worth the time reading this book; thanks to this book, I feel better prepared as an engineer.
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Popular Highlights in this book
“Throughput,” he says, “is the rate at which the system generates money through sales.”Highlighted by 16,053 Kindle readers- To make money by increasing net profit, while simultaneously increasing return on investment, and simultaneously increasing cash flow.Highlighted by 11,140 Kindle readers
- Increase throughput while simultaneously reducing both inventory and operating expense.Highlighted by 10,921 Kindle readers
The Goal is Masterful, Meaningful, Mandatory. WebNutrients Production Process Fixed!
Goldratt is a masterful storyteller.More valuable: His stories will guide you to much greater effectiveness AND efficiency in your production processes.Actually, anything that requires moving Piece-A to Area-B, and understanding why Constraints are both a problem and a solution.One of the great takaways for me was: People are not made to work at 100% all day.I didn't expect a lesson in the limits of human capacity. But Eli crafts such an incredible story (not unlike something Einstein or Feynman might share in a presentation or dream sequence).Introduced to this work in the late 80's, as I was trying to find a way out of 80+ hour workweeks, The Goal became my guide to manufacturing process efficiencies.In an earlier decade, my Dad performed Time and Motion studies (as described by Gilbreth and Taylor) for Alcoa Aluminum. He would love this piece. If T&M Studies provided efficiencies in manufacturing. The Theory of Constraints provided a roadmap to humanizing the workplace even further. While increasing throughput like nothing else before it.We use it as a guide in our own manufacturing processes for WebNutrients Custom Blended Supplements. By applying these approaches Goldratt outlines, we've improved production nearly 800%.I encourage you to use the book (and the one following: It's Not Luck, also by Goldratt) as guides to your own very human performance improvements.You can thank me later.To your great success!
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- Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2014
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Top reviews from other countries
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- Olivier SReviewed in France on February 2, 2025
Very well written, goes far beyond factory processes
- Shashank ChattopadhyayaReviewed in India on May 16, 2024
Great reading experience (Kindle)
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- MatheusReviewed in Brazil on January 1, 2019
Steps to identify bottlenecks in your company
