The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
Author: Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox
List Price: $19.95
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0884270610
Publisher: North River Press Publishing Corporation (May, 1992)
Sales Rank: 292
Average Customer Rating: 4.41 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
WOW!!! A Must-Read For All Operations Management Folks!
Eli Goldratt demonstrates his genius both as a thinker and as a teacher with THE GOAL. The operational concepts that he presents are revolutionary in their practicality and common-sense approach. These concepts, collectively described as Theory of Constraints (TOC), have closed the loop for me on operational thinking and problem solving that has spanned my career. We are taught, first as department heads, and then as general managers to focus on "productivity" in each area independently and "fix" each area in isolation of the other departments. TQM and JIT began a revolutionary change in this thinking that linked the departments into chains and emphasized up-stream "suppliers" and down-stream "customers." Where these fell short was in looking at the productivity of the entire "chain" and providing a problem solving method for continuously improving that productivity. TOC provides a problem solving method as well as a management approach that drives ongoing improvement in any business.
The business novel approach is very appealing as a delivery and teaching method. Most of us struggle through the annual crop of dry business texts that are generally uninspiring. This book is presented with a storyteller's passion for detail, while still driving the key learning points of the theory. This makes sticking with it to the end much easier, which is important, as several key concepts are not revealed until the final pages.
Every organization can benefit from the concepts presented in THE GOAL. Implementation is not costly, unlike some other improvement "fads." TOC shows you, the manager, how to focus on what is really important in your operation, in spite of your daily fire drills.
Rating: 5 out of 5
The goal is about the objective of any company: Making Money
I had to read this book as a part of my Integrated Manufacturing and Control Systems in my Industrial Engineering PHD program. The book is great. This book is a must to read for:
1. All Industrial Engineers with management ambitions.
2. Middle and Upper Management
A lot of companies had already given this book to their staff to read. The book is a nice story that you can be read in less than a week (spending couple of hours every night before you go to bed). It is written in a very simple language.
What "The Goal" talks about is a simple and obvious problem: Make Money by starting with eliminating bottlenecks and reducing batch sizes. Unfortunately we are in 2003 right now and lot of companies still measure the performance of their plants based on efficiency and employee utilization and not on how much money they make.
For the old school people to see a worker idle is a disaster in manufacturing but to have him over producing is a good thing, "The Goal" explain why this situation may not be a disaster and may actually be a good thing.
After you finish reading this book if are a middle manager or upper management you should start reading "It's Not Luck",.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Should be more business novels like this
I think there should be more business novels that wrap a fictional story around management techniques and facts to teach the next generation of business managers. I hope this book inspires others to write a story. This book I think should definitely be required reading for anyone interested in a manufacturing job and it can easily be applied to the service industry. Similar Products
Critical Chain
The Race
Theory of Constraints
It's Not Luck
Lean Thinking : Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, Revised and Updated
Book Index