The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox (With)

The Goal! a continuous process improvement mentalityby Oscar31

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June 08, 2009: "The goal" has a narrative technique to explain how to deal with constraints in a production plant emphasizing the bottlenecks. Goldratt describes not only how identify a bottleneck but also how to improve productivity in terms of making money in a system.

In addition, this book describes some psychological aspects from the manager's point of view dealing with people, and life problems.

Goldratt defines three important concepts which are "throughput", "inventory" and "operational expenses". Having understood these three concepts, Goldratt makes the reader apply common knowledge to solve problems using cause and effect logic incorporating these three concepts. For instance, what would happen to throughput and operational expenses if inventory decreases? So the interactions between those three concepts are essential. Moreover, it gives the idea of just in time by reducing the batch's size. Some of the effects of this idea are the reduction of inventory cost (WIP), lead time, queue time, and waiting time for part to assemble. Thus, reducing batch's size increases production flow rate.

"The Goal" is a great book to read. It is essential to understand how important bottleneck affects the system's throughput. In addition, while reading the book, one can become mentally stimulated to come up with solutions.

In the reading, it describes how managers have to have a positive attitude and team work mentality towards solving problems and improving processes. At the end of the chapter, it explains that the mentality for a successful company is that one has to understand that (in order to be competitive) it takes continuous process improvement and not to wait for a crisis to happen (for instance closing a manufacturing plant) to work as a team and solve problems.

A MUST READ!!by MikeyMD

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June 08, 2009: "The Goal", by Eli Goldratt, follows the life of Alex Rogo, a plant manager who is told that he will lose his job unless he turns his manufacturing plant around and get it to make money. He enlists the help of an old friend in this endeavor, who teaches and guides him toward his goal, using the Theory of Constraints. Through Alex's struggles, failures, and victories, Goldratt is able to present and define his theory in an easy to understand manner. The book reads like a novel and not like a text book. As such, the book, and with it the various aspects of Goldratt's theory, are much easier to follow and understand. This is definitely a must read.