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The Goal (novel) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Goal (novel)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Goal is a management-oriented novel by Dr.
Eliyahu M. Goldratt, a business consultant whose
Theory of Constraints has become a model for
systems management. It was originally published in
1984 and has since been revised and republished in
1992, 2004, and 2014. This book is usually used in
college courses and in the business world for case
studies in operations management, with a focus
geared towards the Theory of Constraints,
bottlenecks and how to alleviate them, and
applications of these concepts in real life.[1] This
book is widely used in leading colleges of
management to teach students about the importance
of strategic capacity planning and constraint
management.
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing
Improvement
Contents
1 Setting
Front Cover
2 Bottlenecks
Author
Eliyahu M. Goldratt
3 Socratic Method
Language
English
4 Characters
Publisher
North River Press
5 See also
6 References
Publication
date
1984 First Edition
1986 Revised First Edition
1992 Revised Second Edition
2004 Revised Third Edition
Setting
Like other books by Goldratt, The Goal is written as
a piece of fiction. The main character is Alex Rogo,
who manages a production plant owned by UniCo
Manufacturing, where everything is always behind
schedule and things are looking dire. At the
beginning of the book, Bill Peach, a company
executive, tells Alex that he has three months to turn
operations at his plant around from being
unprofitable and unreliable to being successful.[2]
His distant acquaintance, Jonah (a physicist), whom
many believe represent Goldratt himself, helps him
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goal_(novel)
2014 Fourth Revised (30th
Anniversary) Edition
Media type Softcover
Pages
384
ISBN
978-0-88427-178-9
OCLC
56194659
(https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56194659)
Dewey
Decimal
823/.914 22
LC Class
PR9510.9.G64 G6 2004
Followed by It's Not Luck
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The Goal (novel) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
solve the company's problems through a series of
telephone calls and short meetings. A second story line, which only occasionally intersects with the main
topic of the book but to which concepts Jonah teaches are also applied, describes Alex's marital life.
Bottlenecks
The book goes on to point out the role of bottlenecks (constraints) in a manufacturing process, and how
identifying them not only makes it possible to reduce their impact, but also yields a useful tool for
measuring and controlling the flow of materials. Alex and his team identify the bottlenecks in their process
and immediately begin to implement changes to help increase capacity and speed up production. In
response to questions about the logic of using outdated technology in modern manufacturing, Alex's team
brought in an old machine they received for free (which had previously been used at their plant in
conjunction with two other machines) in order to increase the capacity of the NCX-10 machine, which had
been identified as one of the two bottlenecks. Further more, they identified processes at the heat treat,
identified as their second bottleneck, that caused massive delays in their getting product through the heattreat and which had also caused some products to be heat-treated multiple times (to make softer and then
harder again) instead of just once or not at all.
Socratic Method
In the book, Jonah teaches Alex Rogo by using the Socratic method. Throughout the book, whenever a
meeting or telephone call dialogue happens with Jonah he poses a question to Alex Rogo or a member of
his crew which in turn causes them to talk amongst themselves to come up with a solution to their problem.
When Alex Rogo is with his wife, he finds the Socratic method to be a way to fix his marriage which he
then uses, with his crew, to come up with the five steps they should use to fix problems in the plant which
ultimately leads him and Lou to think up the three things every division manager, the position Rogo is
promoted to, should be able to do.
Characters
Alex Rogo - main character, manufacturing plant manager
Bill Peach - division vice-president
Fran - Alex's secretary
Jonah - advisor
Lou - chief accountant
Stacey - the plant inventory manager
Julie Rogo - Alex Rogo's wife
Bob Donovan - Production Manager
Herbie - the bottleneck and the solution
See also
Theory of Constraints
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goal_(novel)
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List of project management topics
List of management topics
References
1. ^ A summary of The Goal by Gower Publishing (http://www.gowerpublishing.com/isbn/9780566086656)
2. ^ A chapter-by-chapter summary of The Goal (http://maaw.info/ArticleSummaries/ArtSumTheGoal.htm)
Goldratt, Eliyahu M.; Jeff Cox. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. Great Barrington,
MA.: North River Press. ISBN 0-88427-061-0.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Goal_(novel)&oldid=646921142"
Categories: 1984 novels Business books Project management Theory of constraints Business fables
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