The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

In "The Goal," Eliyahu Goldratt has written what has to be one of the most-read business books in existance. It's an introduction to his "Theory of Constraints" (TOC), but it's presented in a radically different form than the traditional business book. Most business books are either substantial, yet dry, text books or more engaging, but less substantive, anecdote-filled treatises. "The Goal" is a novel. About a Plant Manager. Who learns about the Theory of Constraints. While saving his plant. Sounds electrifying, huh?My first reaction when I heard about it was: "A novel about a plant manager? And people actually paid money and read this?" Part of me wanted to read it for the sheer novelty of it. And part of me was interested in some of the buzz I'd heard about TOC. And here's the weird part; the book actually works. It's engaging, particularly if you've ever worked in or around a plant (and know how intimately your personal success is tied to the success of nebulous factors that no one seems to understand). It gradually introduces you to the concepts of TOC in a way that gives you a decent handle on them without mining them to the point of mind-numbing boredom.What is TOC? Well, without re-writing the book here, it's about changing the focus of the organization to understand that the overall flow of work is more important to the success of the organization than the contribution of single parts. That is, managing the manufacturing capacity of the process is more important than ensuring that each manufacturing machine is producing at optimal capacity. In this sense, it's a lot like mathematical optimization, but TOC presents this in a fashion that's much more intuitive (it almost kills me to say that, as I spent a lot of my life gathering math degrees). If you're interested, Goldratt explains all of this in a much shorter book, The Theory of Constraints; however, it's much less interesting than The Goal. And as it basically covers the same information, I'd recommend The Goal before The Theory of Constraints.There are no explosions. No one dies, and there are no conspiracies. At the end of the story, the hero (Alex Roge) doesn't end up in a nail-biting shootout with the enemy (although that might be a nice touch). It's a simple manufacturing plant in a company town that's doomed to extinction (the town and the plant), if things don't improve and improve quickly. And you find yourself pulling for Alex and his team as they honestly try to save the company and the town.As a novelist, Goldratt will certainly never be mentioned in the same breath as Hemingway or Steinbeck. But don't sell the book short; it communicates a fundamentally different business point of view in a quick and effective fashion. And it does it in a way that has the reader anticipating the next development, rather than having to force themselves to slog from chapter to chapter. In the end, I'm glad I read it, and I recommend it highly.Now if he could just turn Alex into an action hero for the sequel...

The book: The Goal, attempts to teach valuable lessons about industry while keeping the reader entertained with an interesting side story. When I began reading, I had doubts that the book would effectively be able to hold my attention. I also was concerned that the personal side story would just waste my time. I was; however, pleasantly surprised. The book far exceeded my expectations in every way. Mr. Goldratt was very successful in capturing the mindsets within industry. I found myself drawing parallels between the book and my own experiences in industry. The different aspects of industrial thought I believe this book did a good job capturing include: resistance to change, narrow mindedness, and corporate bureaucracy/pressure. Mr. Goldratt based his characters off his own coworkers and the resulting realism was very evident. One of the important and interesting messages this book conveyed involved the true meaning of productivity. Before reading this book, I assumed that a productive facility was one in which the works were always busy and working. That assumption was proven incorrect as I continued my read. I recommend this book and regard it as one of my favorites. Once you learn what “the goal” of a production facility really is, it is all the easier to enjoy reading it.P.S. The goal is to make money.

Eliyahu M. Goldratt’s The Goal is a fictional story emphasizing the theory of constraints. The setting is in a manufacturing plant known as UniCo where Alex Rogo is the main character and production manager of the plant. The story starts off with Alex being yelled at by the division vice-president because his facility is a huge mess and is not meeting deadlines. Alex is given a deadline of three months to improve his facility or else it will be shut down. To make the story more interesting Alex is also having marriage problems. At the airport, Alex meets an old friend and they begin talking about the use of robots at manufacturing sites. There Jonah, the old friend, begins to question some of the things that are done at Alex’s manufacturing site such as inventory and keeping all the employees. From there Alex begins to ponder as to what the true goal of the company is and comes up with the conclusion that the goal is to make more money by increasing throughput and reducing inventory and operating expense. Slowly Alex begins to implement the theory of constraints into his facility.Overall the book was an engaging, easy read. I would highly recommend it because it stresses the theory of constraints in very easy and simple terms, making it easy to understand and follow. Personally I believe that the best part is that the book itself is an example of how the theory of constraints is applied. I myself am an undergraduate industrial engineering student and learned a lot from reading The Goal. I know I will be using the theory of constraints throughout my career and thanks to this book I have a better, clearer understanding of it. If you are interested in an educational fictional story then this is a definite must read. Trust me once you start reading the book you won’t stop reading it until you are done.

If you like manufacturing and open to new ideas then This is a good read

Great book, arrived as promised and in very good condition.

Habe das Buch gelesen, da wir in der Firma agile Methoden zur Softwareentwicklung einsetzen.Der Trainer empfahl das Buch - auch wenn es aus der Produktion kommt - um die "Lean" Prinzipien zu verstehen.Der Roman lässt sich in einem Zug durchlesen - eine echt klasse Urlaubslektüre.Besonders gefallen die Abschnitte, in der der Held zeitgleich sein Privatleben in den Griff bekommt.Auf einer Pfadfinder-Wanderung seines Sohnes lernt er dieselben Zusammenhänge und Abhängigkeiten, wie sie in seiner - bisher nicht funktionierenden - Produktion. Und er leitet aus dieser Wanderung weitere Schritte zur Produktionssteigerung ab.Super geschrieben - echte Empfehlung.

El contenido es bueno pero el formato novela no me convence. Para explicar ideas prefiero algo más corto y al grano.

If you like Operations &/or Business books, you'll love this book. Great book. Really gives you material to use in your everyday.