Release Date: 01 July, 2004
Paperback
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From Publishers Weekly
In this intriguing, readable business novel, which illustrates state-of-the-art economic theory, Alex Rogo is a UniCo plant manager whose factory and marriage are failing. To revitalize the plant, he follows piecemeal advice from an elusive former college professor who teaches, for example, that reduction in the efficiency of some plant operations may make the entire operation more productive. Alex's attempts to find the path to profitability and to engage his employeesi n the struggle involve the reader; and thankfully the authors' economic models, including a game with match sticks and bowls, are easy to understand. Although some characters are as anonymous as the goods manufactured in the factory, others ring true. In addition, the tender story of Alex and his wife's separation and reconciliation makes a touching contrast to the rest of the book. Recommended for anyone with an interest in the state of the American economy.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Alex Rogo manages a failing manufacturing plant, and his marriage is on shaky ground due to his long work hours. When his district manager tells him that profits must increase or the plant will be closed, Alex realizes he needs help. He turns to Jonah, a former professor, whom Alex discovers is now a management consultant (although Jonah's field is physics). With the help of the enigmatic Jonah and the plant staff, Alex turns the plant around while at the same time abandoning many management principles he previously thought were ironclad. This multivoiced presentation is lively and interesting and offers food for thought for managers in any field. The performances are natural and unaffected, with sound effects to enhance the illusion of reality. Although it is a novel, this title is more appropriate for business collections.
- Melody A. Moxley, Rowan P.L., Salisbury, N.C.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The Economist
"A survey of the reading habits of managers found that though they buy books by the likes of Tom Peters for display purposes, the one management book they have actually read from cover to cover is The Goal."--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From AudioFile
In a business text disguised as a novel, a remarkable cast of actors dramatizes a fascinating tale of discovery and redemption. In the story, the manager of a troubled plant learns from a mathematician turned consultant that many of his management practices and economic assumptions are faulty. After he retools his thinking, he convinces everyone else at the factory to get with the new program. The story's flow is slowed by extraneous dialogue and subplots, but it's still a good story and a captivating format for serving up the author's message--that businesses weighed down by archaic habits can be wildly profitable when fresh mathematical methods are implemented with courageous persistence. T.W. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
Harvard Business Review
"This theory provided a persuasive solution for factories struggling with production delays and low revenues."--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Fortune Magazine
"Like Mrs. Fields and her cookies, The Goal was too tasty to remain obscure. Companies began buying big batches and management schools included it in their curriculums."--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Punch Magazine
"Anybody who considers himself a manager should rush out, buy and devour this book immediately. If you are the only one in your place to have read it, your progress along the path to the top may suddenly accelerate...one of the most outstanding business books I have ever encountered."--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
Over 2 million copies sold! Used by thousands of companies and hundreds of business schools! Required reading for anyone interested in the Theory of Constraints. This book, which introduces the Theory of Constraints, is changing how America does business. The Goal is a gripping, fast-paced business novel about overcoming the barriers to making money. You will learn the fundamentals of identifying and solving the problems created by constraints. From the moment you finish the book you will be able to start successfully addressing chronic productivity and quality problems.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Info
The business text now on audio cassette. Complete and unabridged total running time 12 hours on 8 cassettes. Performed by an ensemble cast featuring original music and sound effects. Audio Cassettes. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Rating 4.5
Too much of a good thing...This book is already extensively reviewed here on Amazon so I'm going to boil my opinions down to some pros and cons.
Pros:
1. Provides an intro to theory of constraints TOC management. This is an area I where I needed an intro and the book helped.
2. Business text in a novel format is very clever and works well...for a while...(mine was unabridged on tape).
3. Clever analogies spur you to think about TOC in everyday life. The main character learns lessons about queuing theory and pipeline throughput on a Boy Scout hike. as well as on his plants floor and other places.
4. Later in the book, the extrapolation to constraints in management policies is an interesting and logical conclusion to the book.
5. Pretty good characters - some of them are more brilliant than the above average folk you meet in the business world - the main character Alex is very sharp.
6. The principles given sound obvious but many times this what the best theorists do - systematize common sense.
7. I like the idea of the scientific method discovering intrinsic order in things that appear too complex to predict. Pretty good informal definition of science - which is notoriously difficult to define formally (read Thomas Kuhn).
Cons
1. Too long...a lot of novel to wade through for nuggets of TOC theory. TOC web sites better source for concise treatment. Got so involved and lengthy it was hard for me to absorb the lessons later in the book.
2. Main character's wife is like a whiney little girl, not a woman, through much of the book - mostly because her husband wouldn't communicate and be honest with her....still a whiney spoiled child. I got very tired of her so it didn't matter when she got better. She detracts from the value of the book.
3. A few inconsistencies in the story - not a big deal - but since it is a novel this is fair game. Example, early in the book Alex says he studied advanced math formulas in college, later he doesn't know enough math to approach a physics book.... It's at least confusing if I am mistaken on this point.
4. Tape editing could be better. Very long pauses between chapters make it hard to know if you're at the end of a tape. Otherwise, the audio quality and reading are very good.
The final tape is an essay by the book's author on his own experience as a management theorist/businessman.
1. Brilliant mind, obviously the genius behind the novel and TOC...time will tell if it as important as calculus as he claims - that's a tall order.
2. Gives considerable detail about his roller coaster story of software companies, books, movies, games - all sorts of channels to get his theories out there. Many times the theories have been proven in the real world - more of this case study info would have been helpful.
3. Please forgive me if I am being too unkind, but I think this needs to be said: Mr. Goldratt seems to have some sort of martyr complex in never missing an opportunity to point out individuals, often by name, who disagreed with him and were later proven wrong. I didn't buy the book to hear these sort of self-aggrandizing charges made against other people I don't know. I bet there is another side to his story and frankly I don't care to hear that one either. Just give me the info (TOC) I bought the book for. This can be accomplished without the constant refrain of how non-understanding specific individuals can be (like the books' co-author among many others) in resisting change while simultaneously showing how brilliant Mr. Goldratt is.
I give the book a good rating because of how innovative it is and how important the ideas in it seem to be. If you just want the TOC info, look on the web for it. If you want some entertainment while being introduced to the theories it's a pretty good book.
He is the best seller that I have even seen!!!as the title, he is the best seller that I have even seen! very new book with excellent packaging. Thanks a lot.Concepts from The GoalThe author of this business novel thinks he's the Messiah. The gist of the 384-page book could have been expressed in a page, and some of it is obvious. But it may be useful anyway, and it's an entertaining read.
His schtick is that one can achieve great gains by identifying the bottlenecks ('constraints') that are blocking improved performance toward your goal, and then doing anything necessary to unblock those constraints - even if this means inefficiently using other non-bottleneck resources.
He says that one should think of the cost of each resource as including its effect on the whole system. So if a machine costs $1K/month to operate, but its rate of production is preventing the business from accepting or fulfilling extra orders that would represent $10K/month in profits, then the true cost of the machine is $11K.
It follows that anything one can do to remove that bottleneck would be worthwhile, provided it adds less than the amount saved to the cost and doesn't introduce a new bottleneck. It's fine if you have to overpay for other resources or use them inefficiently as long as you accomplish this.
It then becomes a matter of analyzing and brainstorming all the ways that bottleneck can be reduced. For instance:
- Can extra capacity be added, even if it is less efficient or uses antiquated equipment or is outsourced to a vendor?
- Can you prioritize the use of the bottlenecked resource so that high-profit and time-sensitive work comes first?
- Can you divert work that doesn't need to go through the bottleneck, even if it would then go through another more cumbersome process?
- Can you prevent work from reaching the bottleneck if Quality Control will eventually reject it?
- Can you increase the rate of output of the bottleneck resource by doubling up batches?
This logic applies regardless of the nature of the bottleneck - whether it relates to a machine (production capacity), marketing effort (how much business is coming in), or any other element of one's environment.
To help identify the bottlenecks and judge tradeoffs, one should identify one's goal as a measure (in a business context this is generally profits or ROI), then identify the factors that influence that measurement and create an equation. For instance,
Profits = Sales - Cost of Inputs - Cost of Transforming Inputs
or,
Return On Investment = (Sales - Cost of Inputs - Cost of Transforming Inputs) / Money Trapped In Unfinished Goods And Inventory
Essentially, his thesis is that by focusing on these bottlenecks, and analyzing and brainstorming their solutions, one takes advantage of the 80/20 rule by prioritizing those few factors that most greatly impact one's performance.
The most rewarding part of the book are the examples in the Testimonials section at the end. The testimonials describe creative solutions to tough bottleneck situations. The book doesn't help the reader come up with this type of creative solution - it only mentions where to look for the problem. Here are the memorable examples he cites:
1. A large office supply company (similar to Staples) was losing business to companies that were charging very low prices. Investigating this marketing bottleneck, they determined that from the customers' perspective, the larger problem was the overall cost of stocking and procuring and purchasing and tracking the office supplies.
Rather than competing on price, its owner fixed the Sales bottleneck with an innovative concept, where they arranged to place fully stocked cabinets filled with office supplies throughout their client companies, just like a hotel minibar. They'd visit each week, restock any items that were used, and charge the company for the items that were removed, thereby saving the company the aggravation and cost of even having to purchase or account for office supplies. They also supplied each customer with detailed information regarding what was used, when. In exchange for this unique convenience, they charged higher prices and achieved large profit margins.
2. A printing company, constrained by the number of presses available to print jobs, made more efficient use of its presses by routing jobs to different types of presses in a way that would maximize the total output of the presses.
3. A manufacturing company's output was limited by a saw that cut pipes. They dug up an old, inefficient saw, put it to work to remove that bottleneck, and increased output and profits significantly.
4. In the book itself, the protagonist's factory increased its Return On Investment (profit/money tied up) by shortening the time it took for a product to be manufactured (as doing that reduced the money tied up, hence increased ROI). This was accomplished by removing delays that were keeping costly unfinished products sitting around the plant. For instance, by reducing the 'batch size', a product would wait less time for its batch to be complete, allowing it to move to the next step of production sooner.
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