According to the Goal: How Eliyahu Goldratt Helps Organizations Examine Their Processes to Achieve Maximum Results

According to the Goal: How Eliyahu Goldratt Helps Organizations Examine Their Processes to Achieve Maximum Results

Summary of Book

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement is a work of fiction describing a very real thing—the process of manufacturing a product. This includes the engineering and production process, marketing, sales, and interaction with corporate and regional headquarters. As an employee in a corporate contract manufacturing environment, I felt that this was not a work of fiction at all. In fact, this book describes “my plant” in many instances.

The main character in the story is Alex Rogo. He is the manger of a UniWare division plant in Bearington. Readers are never fully introduced to what kind of products they make, but soon learn that UniWare requires heavy machinery and elaborate engineering processes to manufacture their products.

Alex’s plant has not been profitable for some time, and the division president informs Alex that the Bearington plant will be closed within 3 months unless there are visible improvements. Alex decides that he will not give up on the plant because it is in his hometown and he has an increased sense of responsibility for the plant’s future.

In order to overhaul the plant, Alex contacts his former professor, Jonah. Curiously, Jonah is a physicist, yet Alex remembers a meeting with Jonah a few months ago during which Jonah questioned Alex’s business decisions. Alex was scheduled to give a presentation at a UniWare division meeting, but Jonah raised particular questions about the way Alex defined productivity and efficiency in his presentation. Alex was upset about this because he has an M.B.A., and he feels that Jonah is “just” a scientist.

It turns out that Jonah has been an independent consultant to businesses to help improve their productivity. He is very busy and travels frequently. During several phone conversations and face-to-face meetings, Jonah explains his business model to Alex. He does this by giving Alex definitions to examine plant structures. He also explains correlations that determine the success of the business.

At the heart of Jonah’s business model are three definitions: throughput, or “the