Submitted by: Submitted by remered7
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Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 04/27/2011 04:59 PM
Book Persuasion Report
Summary of Eliyahu M. Goldratt’s The Goal
Prepared 3 April 2011 by Matt DeRemer
Main Idea:
The author successfully demonstrates, in a manufacturing plant setting. That there is a completely different way to look at, measure and drastically improve manufacturing throughput. He “teaches” the reader complex and yet common sense theories on how to improve manufacturing performance using the easy reading of a fictional novel story to convey his message. The goal, in contrast to what the plant manager (protagonist) in the novel was initially focusing on, is not to merely be more efficient and reduce costs – the goal of his and any company is really to make money.
Three key points:
1. Productivity is meaningless unless you know what the goal is (page 32). Productivity is the act of bringing a company closer to its goal. Untold numbers of manufacturing companies have lost sight of the goal by focusing solely on cost reductions and better cost accounting efficiencies than on the true goal of making a profit.
2. Identify your bottlenecks or constraints to realize your true capacity (139). A bottleneck is and resource whose capacity is equal to or less than the demand placed on it. Almost any process you can think of has a bottleneck somewhere in it that limits throughput. Understanding what your bottlenecks are, allows you to plan more efficiently and set realistic goals and even make improvement to them.
3. Activating a resource and utilizing a resource is not synonymous (page 210). This profound statement occurs in business everywhere. Utilizing a resource means making use of the resource in a way that moves the system toward the goal. Activating a resource is like pressing the ON switch of a machine; it runs whether or not there is any benefit to be derived from the work it is doing.
Why this book is a New York Times Best Seller:
The author has brought a completely different perspective as to how manufacturing can be made more...