Book Review

The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Submitted by:
Dev Karan Singh Maletia !BM"##"# Bat$h o% !# &

The Goal is an international bestseller business novel. Its authors are Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Mr. Jeff Cox. This management oriented novel was published first in !"# by The $orth %iver &ress' and was revised and republished in !!( and ())#. Dr. Goldratt was an Israeli physi*ist before be*oming one of the best management gurus. This boo+ has is used in one of the best management institutes around the world to tea*h operations management with spe*ial emphasis on Theory of Constraints' strategi* *apa*ity planning' *onstraint management and methods to ta*+le bottlene*+s mainly in real life. Dr. Goldratt has given a very interesting beginning to the boo+ to arouse more interest in the boo+ by stating two things , firstly , s*ien*e *an be utili-ed to understand and solve many issues' and se*ondly . the main re/uisite for expanding the learning about anything is the *ourage to fa*e in*onsisten*ies and to /uestion the existing popular beliefs and methods. This boo+ also explains a uni/ue method , The Soractic method of approa*hing and solving problems whi*h has been used by the main *hara*ter in the boo+ to solve both his wor+ related and personal 0marital1 problems. The boo+ mainly revolves around Mr. 2lex %ogo who is the plant manager at one of the manufa*turing units of 3niCo in a town *alled 4earington. The plant is not in good shape ' always behind s*hedule and on the verge of getting *losed. Thus' a senior *ompany exe*utive 4ill &ea*h gives 2lex a three months deadline to *hange things around at the plant and *hange it from an unprofitable unit to a profitable one or else it will be *losed ma+ing 2lex5s 6ob in 6eopardy. Thus' indire*tly 2lex is told to sear*h for a new 6ob but he a**epts the *hallenge and tries to *hange things in the plant. 7omebody +nown to 2lex' Dr. Jonah whi*h many believe is Dr. Goldratt helps him solve the issues in the plant through a series of telephoni* *onversations. 2lso' remembering an old *onversation with Dr. Jonah ma+es 2lex reali-e that tha main aim of the *ompany is to ma+e money whi*h will is not getting a*hieved with the hi.te*h robots that have been installed in the plant. 2 parallel storyline runs in the boo+ depi*ting the problems of 2lex5s married life wih his wife Julie i.e. la*+ of attention 2lex pays towards his wife' *hildren and the general household.

Vinod Gupta School of Management

Page 2

2**ording to Jonah' a *ompany needs to ta+e *are of three ma6or *omponents and the issues related to the same to ma+e the *ompany profitable , Throughput , sales revenues that needed to be maximi-ed' operational expenses , that need to be minimi-ed and inventory , money spent to pur*hase things to maximi-e the throughput that needs to minimi-ed. Thus 2lex dis*usses the same with four most important people in the plant , produ*tion manager' inventory *ontrol manager' plant *ontroller and the person responsible for the data pro*essing in the plant and they *on*lude that the points suggested by Jonah are a*tually very important. They thus lay the foundation of the pro*eeding events at the plant. 2lso' a simple and yet most important *on*ept of the bottlene*+s has been explained beautifull in the boo+. 2lex reali-es its importan*e when he goes on the forest hi+e with his son and other +ids. 8e is easily able to see that the final speed of the *omplete pro*ess depends on the speed of the +id who wal+s the slowest. If he9she is en*ouraged and made to move fast then the entire group5s speed and effi*ien*y is in*reased. 8e thus' tries and appy the same in his plant to maximi-e the results by identifying the bottlene*+s and resolving the same. 2lso' the *on*ept of how to use outdated te*hnology in modern manufa*turing has been beautifully explained in the boo+. 2lex and his team' very *leverly' brought in an old ma*hine whi*h they re*eived for free in order to in*rease the in*rease the *apa*ity of the $C:. ) ma*hine whi*h was identified as one of the ma6or bottlene*+s in the plant. This helps them start shipping the pending orders at a mu*h faster rate than ever before whi*h further helps 3niCo s*ore a ma6or *ontra*t. 2ll this is done when 2le uses the 7o*rati* Method whi*h is a form of en/uiry and the pro*eeding dis*ussions between a set of people. 2lex poses a /uestion to Jonah or a member of his team and they find appropriate solution to the same by holding dis*ussions among their team. This method follows the prin*iple of negative hypothesis where Jonah poses some basi* /uestions instead of providing straight solutions to him. This helps him identify the right solutions himself using his basi* understanding of the plant *on*epts. 2lso' he is able to solve his marital issues with Julie by answering some of the most basi* /uestions li+e what the a*tual goal of their marriage is.

Vinod Gupta School of Management

Page 3

3sing all the above mentioned *on*epts and their appli*ations that 2lex learns from Jonah' him along with his team are able to identify the main steps that would lead to improvement whi*h a*tually is the Theory of Constraints: Identify the system *onstraints &lan and de*ide how to eploit those *onstraints 7ubordinate all the de*isions a**ordingly Evaluate the performan*e of the *onstraints %epeat the pro*ess until all the *onstraints are minimi-ed and gradually eliminated

;verall the boo+ has been a very interesting read whi*h has helped me identify and understand some of the very important *on*epts in manufa*turing strategy and operations management.

Vinod Gupta School of Management

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