Rating: 
Summary: A Good Book
Review: In The Goal the character Jonah was an expert and a consultant of Alex Rogo on plant management in this story of saving Unico. He freed himself from the conventional thinking and used the mathematical modes embodied with managerial accounting theories in plant management. In this struggle of saving Unico, Jonah played a critical part by giving advices in order to tackle problems that appeared at the different stages. His knowledge of managerial accounting and his sharp sense of using the theories in practice saved the plant from bankcruptcy. Without his help Alex and his team would have still been groping in the darkness trying to survive high volume of inventory, high expenses, low output and more and more delayed orders. Alex and his team would still have been living in the heavy pressure of criticism from the head office and the complaints from the customers. At last the high volume of inventory would absorb all the cash flow of the plant. The customers would go to other plants for high production and on-time shipment. The head office would stop compensating for the deficit of the plant and close the plant. Alex and the employees in the plant would have to contact headhunters for a new job.
The Goal is a business book in a novel format, which is fresh and very readable, yet insightful to readers. It is an entertaining way to teach Theory of Contraints. The book does not simply supply advice, but gives me a better understanding of the thought process behind Theory of Constraints by forcing the main character to work through his plant management issues. It gives the reader knowledge of "how" to implement the point of the book and have an enjoyable and good learning of how Theory of Contraints actually exists and behaves in true life and how the managers should tackle this problem in a manufacturing plant. The book gives me a vivid description of how to use management accounting knowledge to make good decisions and offers an excellent description for what to do to save a plant in a limited amount of time. Many business books just tell theories and concepts. But The Goal embodies the theories by the settings, fiction process, dialogues and problems that appeared in the book. After reading this book readers can have a better understanding of the real-time of management accounting as well as JIT, expenses, output and inventory. So a book like The Goal would surely have been very helpful for Unico.
The book begins with the pressured Alex Rogo, the manager of a manufacturing plant, Unico, who was hard working but could not get out from the mess of nearly everything--family problems, plant deficit, his boss's criticism and customer's threat of canceling orders, etc. To avoid the fate of the plant being closed and becoming jobless, Alex and his team looked for every source to save their plant. Because of the help of Jonah, the consultant, they discovered the goals of the plant which were to make money by increasing net profit while simultaneously increasing return on investments, and simultaneously increasing cash flow. They also found three new measurements to express the goal perfectly well: throughout, inventory and operational expenses. They found a balanced plant model in which production capacity of each resource and market demands are perfectly in balance. They considered the plant as a whole and found that bottleneck was the barrier of balancing the flow of production with the market demand. They took the following five steps to solve the problem:
1.) Identify the system's constraint(s) (i.e., bottlenecks)
2.) Decide how to "exploit" the constraint(s), meaning, how to make the best use of them
3.) Subordinate everything else to the above decision
4.) Elevate the system's constraint(s) (i.e., improve throughout)
5.) If, in a previous step, a bottleneck has been broken, go back to step 1.
They found the difference between activating a resource and utilizing a resource and that the plant must not seek to optimize every resource so as to reduce its operating expenses. After solving all these problems within 6 months the plant shortened its throughout time and reduced its expenses and inventory. As all the orders shipped on time, more and more orders came in. The plant began to earn profit. The book ended with the result of the plant surviving the bankruptcy and operating in an efficient way.
I strongly recommend this book to new students for their study in managerial accounting. By reading this book they can understand better the logics reasoning in accounting principles and the use of these principles in true life. Also, this book should be a part of all manufacturing managers' reading lists. Every business, no matter if it is manufacturing, retail delivery or customer service has a constraint (or bottleneck) in the system. The book teaches us how to find this constraint in the system and actually use it to our advantage and how managers actually use accounting information and techniques in their decision-making process.
I really enjoyed reading this book because it reminded me of my working experience in the marketing department of a manufacturing plant and answers my questions that have been hanging on my mind for a long time. I worked in that plant of phones manufacturer for one year. At that time the situation in my plant was somewhat the same as Unico--late shipments, high volume of inventory and expenses, less and less cash flow, delayed payment for purchases of raw materials, and late payment for employee's salaries. Our marketing department was under a lot of pressure. Everyday we had to spend a lot of time to deal with the complaints from the customers for their loss of money because of our late shipments. Our products were welcomed in the market, but our orders were becoming fewer and fewer because of the notorious late shipments. The general manager of the plant tried every way to save the plant using the methods such as laying off workers, closing some production lines and adding extra work time for delayed orders except looking for the bottlenecks which limited the efficient utilizing of the capacity of the plant. Consequently the plant could not manage to avoid the fate of being closed and liquidated for the return of the loan and all the expenses. If the managers read the book like The Goal or had a consultant like Jonah, things would have become quite different. From this book I can see that although Alex and his staff had a lot of experience in managing a plant, yet they lacked the systematic knowledge of managerial accounting to manage the plant efficiently.. Knowledge is power. Jonah used this power to benefit the plant. I'd like to be a person like Jonah who has both a good command of systematic knowledge and rich experience, and has a good ability of putting theories into practice. If I were Jonah I would act somewhat differently. I would provide regular training to the management staff from all the departments of Unico on the basic use of the mathematic model so that the staff can have a correct sense of how to solve problems. From the meetings with them I can collect information of how the model is adapted in practice. So I can continuously revise my model and theories and make them more exact and perfect. Finally the most important lesson from the book I have learned, I think, is that a solid accounting knowledge will be very useful for my future work. Today's solid study in college will benefit my business career and the company which I will work for.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth the time invested
Review: I read this book several years ago because it was "recommended reading" by a VP of a company where I used to work. The ideas are not necessarily new, they are very much common sense but not practiced enough. The approach of a novel makes this read enjoyable while learning something at the same time. Bottlenecks or "Herbies" (constraints) are vital to identify. Back in Chemical Engineering school, we often talked about "rate-determining steps" of a chemical reaction. It's a similar idea in maximizing production rates. In that case it had to do with understanding the sequential steps of a chemical reaction to determine which step was so much slower than the other steps that it determined the overall rate. Once you understand what step controls the reaction rate, you are then able to do something to increase the reaction rate with the end result of higher throughput, smaller equipment, lowered cost, etc. I found after really learning that datum in school, I looked at non-chemical processes in a similar way with the net effect of boosting rates in many endeavors. You could even apply this to your own life, much like the novel shows the effects of constraints on a camping trip. It can open a door to improvement and even optimization. Similar to the "rate-determining step" idea, this book should help you see manufacturing processes in a different way by identifying the real constraints that determine the overall rate of production. Once you know what the constraints are, you are then able to act. It's useful, applicable knowledge at a next-to-nothing cost. As for skipping this book and jumping right into six-sigma, in my opinion that is BAD advice. They are not the same thing. They share the same goal: improvement. So both have merit. One final note: the book is a quick read.
Rating:
Summary: A True Philisophical Understanding of Management
Review: --The Goal is a requirement of a Managerial Accounting course I am taking. After intitial doubts as to the ability to enjoy a story about manufacturing, I honestly found the book fairly enjoyable and easily applicable to life in general.
--Eliyahu Goldratt truly has an innovative approach not only to management but also in teaching his theory. The Goal is about the ongoing struggle of a manufacturing plant manger Alex Rogo as he searches for a way to save his plant from being closed. With the leadership of an old high school physics professor Jonah, he develops a strategy to make his factory run more effectively and become more profitable. The theory of constraints is honestly a simple theory which is usually the most effective and overlooked. Goldratt understood that no matter how simple the theory is to comprehend it would not be as effective unless it was deeply understood. If he were to simply lay forth set rules in a textbook style format as to how to approach a constraint, the chances of long-run improvement would be slim. Since business is in a constant stage of change, the constraints within them must also change. Unless the manager has a true understanding of the theory he will be unable to adjust the environment to the changes to remain successful.
--Any reviewers that tell you that this book could have been summed up in fifty words (as many on here have said) truly don't understand half of Eliyahu's purpose in this book. It is necessary to see the process of development of the theory to truly understand why it is effective and to keep it effective in the long-run.
Rating:
Summary: Very entertaining and educational
Review: This book is used in the teaching of bottlenecks and the theory of constraints in many different MBA programs in the US and Latin America that I know of. There is a good reason for it: reading it is fun. Alex Rogo is a peculiar character, one that incorporates portions of the regular company manager, myself included. The context is exciting (the company may close his plant if he does not improve results, his wife may leave him) and makes for an entertaining setting in which to teach the theory of contraints. We follow Alex as he first has an epiphany while camping with his son and meets the prophetic Herby; he then starts to apply some of those concepts in his factory, improving results immediately. Then we see him arguing with Peach, the proverbial upper manager who doesn't understand (a little Dilbert-esque). I very strongly recommend it both as a fiction novel and as a learning tool. In my opinion, getting this book is a win-win proposition.
Rating: 
Summary: Perscriptive
Review: "The Goal" has been a standard for years. It's one of the few business books which is "perscriptive" in that it gives the reader a good knowledge of "how" to implement the point of the book. So many best selling business books are achedemic and make a good point, but don't give the reader a clue on "how" to change their business to accomplish the point of the book. "The Goal" does this very effectively.
Rating: 
Summary: Love or Money
Review: No doubt more staying power than other improvement books with much more power, like "Gemba Kaizen" or "Japanese Manufacturing Techniques." It's been out over 15 years now and still stays in the top 500 of Amazon Books all the time. Makes me wonder if we're reading it for the Theory of Constraints, or do we just want to see how Alex makes out with his love life??
Rating: 
Summary: More for MBAs than engineers
Review: I read this book as part of an initiative to improve our company. Unfortunately, only production and engineering functions read the book. There was nothing new in there for us. This would be a great book for introducing business majors to the trials and tribulations in the world of production. It really should be limited to just upper and mid management as a required read, though.
Rating:
Summary: The most oddly compelling novel.
Review: It's all about business, in story form. Very creative, and, very importantly, readable. I guess this book is tailored to factory production, but the ideas presented can be used elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction of Operations for beginners
Review: I bought the book as part of the MBA reading requirement for the semester. I had no previous background whatsoever in operations and, as the professor said, this book would help to understand the basic concepts behind operations. And indeed it is very useful. Not only the author gives the main concepts about operations - such as throughput, bottlenecks and so on - but also it puts the manufacturing facility under a critical point of view, and why so many practices aiming to improve production might lead to nothing, all this under a fictional story. Interesting as well is the appendix where the author explains about the book conception and the feedback he received after all this time since the book was first published. If you have no idea about operations this book will be very useful. If you have worked with operations before, it might give some critical view about the experiences you had.
Rating:
Summary: this book or a MBA?
Review: I could have done without the forced story line. But it did tie the lessons together nicely. Actually, spotted this one on my bookshelf tonight and realized it's time for a reread. Hauoli Makahiki Hou
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