The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox
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Book Summary Information
Author: Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff CoxEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-07
ISBN: 0884271781
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: North River Pr
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- ISBN13: 9780884271789
- Condition: New
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Book Reviews of The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
Book Review: The Goal: A "Must Read" Business Book
Summary: 5 Stars
The Goal, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, is an intelligent, metaphoric business novel that introduced the Theory of Constraints (TOC) and helped launch a revolutionary era in economic theory as it relates to production and quality improvement. The TOC replaces time honored metrics of cost accounting as the prime measure of productivity and includes some common sense concepts, such as, throughput, inventory, and operational expense.
This change in thinking results from the notion that "bottlenecks" are the prime determinant of a plant's throughput. This concept is pertinent not only to industries that produce manufactured goods, but it has important applications in service industries as well. To convey these new concepts, Goldratt resurrects an ancient teaching technique, the Socratic Method, to enhance the learning experience of his characters and his readers. He also cultivates an understanding of complex concepts, such as "statistical fluctuations in dependent events" through real world examples, such as, a Boy Scout Troop's hike through the woods.
Alex Rogo, the principle character of the book, is the plant manager for UniCo whose product is never revealed. Since the factory has not made money for some time, the story starts when Alex is informed of the possible closure of his plant. Rogo was from Bearington, the location of this plant, so he takes pride in his position as the plant manager. He is extremely motivated to turn the factory around. Most of his activities have centered on crisis management, such as, finishing and shipping orders in response to mounting customer complaints. He has been spending most of his waking time at the plant trouble shooting, and this has taken a toll on his personal life to a point that his marriage to Julie is failing. With the plant always taking priority over Alex's family life, the reader recognizes the strong work ethic and dedication typically expected from individuals at this level of management in contemporary life.
Julie Rogo is a two dimensional character who fits the stereotype of the stay at home "wife," takes care of the kids, and requires a certain amount of attention from her husband. Up until the very end of the book, she has very little interest in the plant and Alex's work. Most of the time, she is nagging him despite his pending career disaster. The last straw for Julie was when Alex took their son on a scouting trip rather than spending the day with her. This seems very immature on Julie's part, but then again, she was obviously not very happy with their relationship. Her change in attitude follows a period of separation during which she continues to "date" Alex. The couple seems to reinvigorate their interest in one another, probably because they elevated the constraint of "time" in their relationship. While dating, they discovered more effective behaviors to enhance their relationship.
Goldratt probably used Julie as an example of how horrific one's personal life can become when a job is made more difficult and time consuming than necessary by process mismanagement. To that end, Julie served the purpose, but I believe that this book could have been a better novel by adding more complexity to her character. This book probably has more appeal to those readers who do not customarily read novels (i.e. non-fiction readers). For those who enjoy reading for pleasure, I would suspect that the economic lessons imbedded in this story does not compensate for any possible lack of character development. As a non-fiction reader, I may not be the best judge of "character" development in fiction. Yet, despite my lack of interest in contemporary fiction, The Goal illustrated how teaching can be made more interesting by encapsulating the learning objectives in a narrative.
Bill Peach, the division vice president, informed Alex that he had only three months to turn the plant around or else face closure. This "time constraint" was not accidental or incidental to the story. Most systems have a primary and a secondary constraint, and these constraints are generally two of the following three factors: time, money, or quality. Having triple constraints, i.e., all three of the previous constraints, can make a project very difficult to achieve. Successful projects should have at least one of the three previous factors relatively unconstrained. For instance, on May 25, 1961, President Kennedy announced, "I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to earth."
That short statement contained two primary constraints: time ("before the decade is out") and quality ("landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to earth"), but said nothing about money or costs. During the life of the Apollo project, the priority between time and quality fluctuated. When quality issues arose, such as, the fire of Apollo 1 resulting in the death of three astronauts, NASA elevated "quality" as their priority, at any cost. Although, Congress frequently complained about the size of the NASA budget, the project remained fully funded beyond Apollo 11 and the moon landing. It was not until the seventies with the mounting cost of the Viet Nam War, growing inflationary problems in the economy, and perhaps a loss of vision by our country that "costs" were elevated as the primary constraint in continuing to launch men to the moon.
Goldratt, through the character of Bill Peach, sets the plant constraints as "time" (three months) and "money" (make the plant profitable), but then through the character of Alex Rogo embarks on a discovery of quality management (TOC) where the reader learns an irony that exists in any system of constraint. The true constraint for most systems is quality, not time or money. The great awakening that occurs through the Socratic Method and real world examples is that "quality" management is the only true constraint to any operation. By managing quality appropriately, the constraints of time and money will also be properly managed as a byproduct. "Quality" has a broad meaning; it encapsulates the best of all human characteristics, including creativity, innovation, management, and discipline. This lesson is elevated to conscious awareness by the novel through the character of Jonah, Alex's old physics professor.
Alex accidentally runs into Jonah at an airport and during their conversation Alex brags about the plant's new robots. After a few probing questions, Alex realizes that Jonah has far more insight into his plant's operation than he has; so, from that moment, Alex pursues the tutelage of Jonah. Alex keeps looking for answers, but Jonah just gives him more questions that continue to lead to a path of discovery. At times, I felt Alex's frustration with Jonah. Why don't you just get to the point? In a follow up book, Goldratt explains why he used the Socratic Method so heavily in The Goal.
He explains that the process of ongoing improvement should be the norm in any industry, but any improvement requires a change in behavior by the workers. "Any change is a perceived threat to security (Theory of Constraint, 1990, p. 10)." This gives rise to emotional resistance which must be overcome by a stronger emotion. Such emotions can be evoked by a threat of job loss, but instead Goldratt prefers a more powerful emotion based upon the "meaning to life" that the inventor of an idea experiences. By originating an idea, the resulting emotion can inspire and overcome great resistance.
Thus, the Socratic Method triggers the emotion of the inventor. "The minute you supply a person with the answers, by that very action you block them, once and for all, from the opportunity of inventing those same answers for themselves. The Goal deliberately elaborates on Alex's struggle to find the answers, so that the intuition of the reader will have sufficient time to crystallize (Theory of Constraint, 1990, p. 18)." The Goal is mesmerizing and fast paced because "the readers are inventing the answers before they read them (TOC, p.19)." He further explains that the Socratic Method effectively makes the problem the reader's problem, and the usual ways to solve these problems do not work.
Goldratt uses two mechanisms of ascertaining proof in his Socratic discourse: the Cause and Effect Method and the Evaporating Clouds technique. He explains these in his book The Theory of Constraints. Every endeavor of human inquiry goes through distinct stages of development. The earliest and perhaps least developed stage is "classification," in which observations that share like properties are grouped together. The next stage is "correlation," in which relationships seem to exist between properties of a system. During this phase, the question of HOW seems to dominate. Only when human inquiry reaches the last stage, "cause and effect," does it become scientific. This line of inquiry is more concerned with the WHY of a process, and establishes logical deductions and explanations. Thus, the assumption that the goal, making money, can be measured by throughput, operational expense, and inventory is illustrated in this book by the cause and effect principle.
The Evaporating Clouds technique is based upon the fact that most people have preconceived notions of acceptable solutions to a problem. This acts as a block to re-thinking a dilemma. Such preconceived solutions usually arise out of a compromise that minimizes the number of changes necessary to create an environment where the problem no longer exists. The Evaporating Clouds technique provides a framework to overcome preconceived notions. The "precise definition of the problem" is the first step in utilizing the technique. Next, "the requirements that must be fulfilled (Theory of Constraint, 1990, p. 37-8)" should be identified, and in most circumstances one can expect conflicting goals. "Compromise" arises when achieving both goals is attempted by sharing resources or doing one thing at the expense of the other.
The Evaporating Clouds technique seeks to eliminate this conflict all together rather than finding a compromise solution. Generally this is achieved by restating the problem in more global terms. This is clearly seen in the dilemma in the batch size of the work orders. In an effort to facilitate the movement of work through the bottleneck part, the NCX10, batch size and the composition of the batch is varied. They even color code parts to insure that certain inventory critical to production are processed first. To their surprise, this results in the emergence of new bottlenecks. That problem "disappears" completely after they allow the bottleneck itself to determine the flow of the non-constrained resources. The dilemma over the "size" and "type" of inventory to process "evaporated" away in a "cloud."
The relationship among Alex, his staff, and Jonah develops throughout the book, and it becomes the centerpiece to learning these new concepts of business management. Jonah is a busy business consultant, which is a far cry from a physics professor. The book never explains how Jonah becomes involved in this line of work, but Goldratt associates the scientific method of physics to the Socratic Method of learning. Jonah helps Alex realize that the goal of any manufacturing organization is to make money, and that every action of the company should bring it closer to that goal. Up to that time, the prevalence of stale concepts of "cost accounting" resulted in outdated performance metrics for plant operations, i.e., resource efficiency, net profit, return on investment, and cash flow. Overemphasis upon these isolated factors with no interrelated metrics was at the root of the plant's failure.
To make matters worse, the plant had invested in expensive robots that did not contribute to the overall performance of the plant. The robots seemed to be a symbol of all "high technology" equipment, and the message from Goldratt was clear. The utilization of high-tech does not guaranty success. Jonah's measurement of plant performance was quite different. They include "throughput, inventory, and operational expense." Jonah gave these concepts to Alex in a brief phone conversation, so Rogo brought them back to his plant to discuss them with Bob Donovan (production manager), Lou (plant controller), Stacey (inventory control), and Ralph (data processing). The resulting discussions helped the reader absorb the intricate inter-relations between these concepts.
"Throughput" is the rate at which any system generates money through sales. "Inventory" is the money tied up in purchasing things a business expects to sell. "Operational expense" is the money spent to turn inventory into throughput. Contrary to the principles of cost accounting, these new metrics account for the value added steps that occur during the production of throughput in a different way. Under the new metrics, labor and depreciation in manufacturing plant are expenses, not inventory. Likewise, knowledge is an expense unless the plant is selling the knowledge. These changes eliminate the confusion of whether certain stages of production should be accounted for as an expense or an investment in inventory. Under Jonah's metrics, there are only three forms of money in the plant: money coming in from "throughput;" money stuck in the plant as "inventory;" and money going out as "operational expense."
The ultimate goal is to increase "throughput" while simultaneously decreasing "inventory" and "operational expense." Jonah quickly points out that any single factor cannot be changed without affecting at least one other of these three measures. The old concept of a "balanced plant" taught in cost accounting can actually result in a decrease in throughput and a precipitous increase in inventory. These two factors are a formula for lost revenues, or a movement away from the goal. In a balanced plant each and every resource is matched exactly to the demand for that resource. Excess capacity is viewed as a lost opportunity to reduce operational expenses. In reality, though, if excess capacity of plant resources is trimmed too much, throughput will decrease.
Jonah states that a balanced plant is doomed to fail due to "statistical fluctuations in dependent events." This new concept puzzles Alex until he encounters Herbie on a Boy Scout Troop hike in the woods. Herbie, due to his over-stuffed backpack is unable to keep up with the rest of the troop. His slow pace results in huge delays in the line's progress toward their final destination. Alex realizes that the ability to move faster than the average speed of each Boy Scout is limited. The accumulation of each individual's speed that falls below the average speed of the line results in no lower limit on how much the progress of the troop can be delayed. The bottom line is that in a linear dependency of two or more variables, the fluctuations of the variables down the line will center on the maximum deviation established by any preceding variable. Thus, throughput will be equal to the slowest person in the line at any given time.
With the Boy Scout troop hike, one can draw an analogy to Jonah's metrics of a plant's operation. Throughput can be viewed as the last Boy Scout in the line. When the last boy arrives at the final destination, throughput has been achieved. The distance between the beginning and the end of the line is inventory, and the energy expended by each boy to keep up with the line is operational expense. When the distance in the line increases, throughput is reduced and inventory is increased. To catch up, more energy must be expended, so operational expense increases. This example clearly illustrates that inventory moves through a system not in a manageable flow, but in waves. The system can get further and further behind due to the accumulation of negative deviations from the average. Thus, the capacity of a resource cannot be measured in isolation, but its position in the production process must be considered.
Once Alex and his team came to this realization, they were able to identify two kinds of plant resources: bottleneck and non-bottleneck resources. A bottleneck resource has a capacity that is equal to or less than the demand placed upon it. A non-bottleneck resource has a capacity that is greater than the demand placed upon it. Rather than using the balanced plant model of cost accounting, where each resource is balanced with the demand for the individual resource, the plant should strive to balance the flow of the product through the plant with the market demand for that product. Or more precisely, the flow through the bottleneck resource should equal the market demand for the product. All attempts should be made to maximize the bottleneck resource since it directly determines throughput.
Alex and his team identified the NCX10 as the bottleneck resources in their plant. They took several steps to increase the capacity of the NCX10, such as, putting quality control ahead of the machine so it would only process good parts, keeping it operational all the time even during lunch and breaks, having it work only on parts that could not be processed by some other machine, and by reactivating retired equipment that could perform the same function at a slower pace. Other bottleneck optimizing steps included processing parts that would only contribute to throughput today; otherwise, a build up of inventory would result. Any increase in inventory decreases the plant's cash flow since inventory ties up money. Likewise, when one attempts to run a non-bottleneck part at peak efficiency, excess inventory is the result. It too should only work on parts that contribute to throughput today.
The level of utilization of a non-bottleneck resource should not be determined by its own potential, but rather by the constraint in the system. Goldratt emphasizes this principle by distinguishing between "activating" a resource and "utilizing" a resource. Activating resources initiates some type of mechanized process or labor force, but does not necessarily result in profit. A system with local optimums is not an optimal system; it's an inefficient system. Utilizing these same resources only insofar as it contributes to throughput today is an efficient system despite the existence of excess capacity in the individual non-bottleneck resource. A non-bottleneck part should be released according to assembly capacity and bottleneck processing. Idle capacity is frequently a fixed cost, so increasing its utilization results in no additional savings despite any increase in the local efficiency. Excess inventory, on the other hand, that results from efficiency based upon local optimums will decrease cash flow.
These lessons, once learned by Alex and his team resulted in measurable improvements in the plant. Even Bill Peach took notice. Goldratt interjects a dramatic element in the form of a competitive plant manager named Hilton Smyth who is trying to advance in the division by discrediting Alex and his team. However, Alex's next wave of discovery puts his team firmly in the winners circle and gains Alex a promotion to division manager. After running into rolling bottlenecks in the plant from a part-marking system they implemented to maximize bottleneck and non-bottleneck resources, Alex and his team decided to take a more serious look at process times.
The team identified the following four process times. "Setup time" is time spent waiting while the bottleneck resource prepares to work on the part. "Process time" is the time spent modifying the part into a new form. "Queue time" is spent in line waiting for a resource that is busy working on another part. "Waiting time" is the time that a part waits on another part for assembly. Alex and his team determine that the bulk of the time is spent in queue time and waiting time. Both of these are determined by the bottleneck resource, the NCX10. By reducing the batch size, both waiting and queue time can be reduced. This had a net effect of increasing the speed of processing and cash flow, while at the same time decreasing inventory, order lead times, and time to market. Some excess capacity of the non-bottleneck resources were absorbed due to smaller batch sizes, but this did not increase costs in any way.
Alex had discovered that certain non-bottleneck resources are "capacity constraint resources" in that they depend upon the sequence of the work process. These resources determine which process should occur first, and unless properly managed, can result in the emergence of new bottlenecks. When properly managed, though, plant throughput can be increased. The best way to determine the order of part processing is by paying attention to the demands of the bottleneck resource. With this new discovery, Alex approached Johnny Jons, the marketing manager, to increase their orders. They accepted new business from abroad that was below their normal price points. Since all fixed costs were covered by their normal process load, most of the money received from these foreign orders was profit (minus the variable costs).
A very important lesson was learned about spare capacity and inventory control. Excess capacity is necessary, and it can be absorbed to facilitate bottleneck movement when a delay occurs. If excess capacity is not available, then bottleneck delays will result in lost throughput. Additionally, an inverse relationship exists between spare capacity and inventory. If excess inventory is available in front of the bottleneck resource, then less spare capacity is needed. If spare capacity is increased, then lower inventory is necessary in front of the bottleneck resource. Thus excess capacity in non-bottleneck resources results in lower inventory levels and greater cash flow. Attempting to reduce both excess capacity and inventory simultaneously is a recipe for reduced throughput and disaster.
The book has a happy ending. Alex and Julie reconcile. The plant and perhaps all of UniCo is saved. Alex is promoted to division manager, and Alex's team is promoted up the ladder. By the way, Hilton Smyth is discredited. Jonah had asked Alex to pay him whatever he thought his services were worth if the plant was saved. I was surprised when Goldratt did not complete that part of the transaction. Perhaps this is his only accounting error. The book concludes with Alex and Lou trying to identify the process that led to the plant's turnaround. That is when Goldratt summarizes the basic principles contained in the Theory of Constraint. He seems to speed through this part of the book to my disappointment. He does provide more detail in his follow up book, Theory of Constraints, published in 1990.
Alex and Lou identified a five step process that they did not label, but Goldratt calls it the Theory of Constraints. Before listing each step, one must understand the goal of the system, and the measurements that will help one gauge the achievement of that goal. In this case, the goal was to make money, and the metrics were throughput, inventory, and operational expense. Since every system has at least one constraint, the first step in the Theory of Constraints is to "identify the system's constraints and prioritize them according to their impact upon the goal. Second, all resources, non-constraint or constrained, should be managed in such a way to maximize the output of the constrained resource. Third, whatever the constraints, a way to limit their impact must be devised. Fourth, the constraint should be elevated until it is broken. The final and fifth step is to go back to the process and look for new emergent constraints once the original constraint has been broken.
This last step states that an ongoing improvement process must occur rather than patting oneself on the back for a job well done. For an ongoing process to be effective every manager must understand "WHAT TO CHANGE." In other words, the manager must identify the core problems that will result in a major improvement upon the system once changed. Also, to avoid panic and chaos, the manager must know "WHAT TO CHANGE TO." The final managerial duty is the most difficult, "HOW TO CAUSE THE CHANGE." Alex sees it as "the amount of inertia that we can expect from the division." He concludes by asking," If a manager doesn't know how to answer those three questions, is he or she entitled to be called manager?" The abrupt ending that followed this brief discussion left me confused at first, but then I realized that it may be a great time to turn to the Socratic Method. It also proved to be a great segway to Goldratt's next book, the Theory of Constraints.
In the final analysis, The Goal illustrates that the real constraint upon any system is "quality," or "continuous quality improvement." Money should always be a constraint in all systems, so any industry that operates in an environment where there is no limitation on financial resources is unrealistic and not of this world. Economics is the study of the efficient use of scarce resources to achieve the maximum satisfaction of economic wants. In essence, accepting that premise is what a mathematician calls a "zero-sum-game," i.e., one person's loss is another person's gain. This may be true for a period of time, but technology can serve to expand the resources available at affordable prices.
How do technological advances affect the resource limitations of an economic system? In Unlimited Wealth, Paul Pilzer lists three technology factors that, when present, can propel an economy faster than the rate of capital accumulation (money). In his book he writes:
1.Technology is the major determinant of wealth because it determines the nature and supply of physical resources.
2.The advance of technology is determined mainly by our ability to process information.
3.The backlog of unimplemented technological advances is the true predictor of economic growth for both the individual and society (p. 16).
Thus, technological advances can turn "limited resources" into "unlimited resources." For instance, insulin can now be commercially synthesized at a fraction of the cost and in unlimited supplies compared to older methods of harvesting the compound from animals. The motivating factors in the development of these technological advances that lead to "unlimited wealth" are the limitations of the natural world itself, or more specifically the limitations of financial resources.
Can the limitations of money lead to improved technology and unlimited resources? On October 4, 2004 Burt Rotan's SpaceShipOne, a privately built space craft, was dropped from its mother ship, the White Knight, and rocketed 62 miles into space to win the coveted Ansari X Prize of $10 million. Microsoft's founder Paul Allen spent $20 million to win the prize and to be the first commercial venture to launch a passenger into outer space. This seems to make little economic sense, but the technology that resulted from this endeavor will lead to the profitable commercialization of space flight and have a dramatic impact upon the future direction of space exploration. Rotan designed a moveable wing unit for SpaceShipOne that eases reentry into earth's atmosphere making heat shields unnecessary and greatly lowers the risk of reentry accidents.
One can only theorize how differently the Apollo project would have progressed if President Kennedy had said "I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to earth on a budget of $10 million." In the end, continuing the mission of Apollo with a blank check proved unrealistic. At the same time, the realities of our current limited financial resources may result in more efficient resource allocation and ultimately in the discovery of newer technologies that can be widely applied. The key to all this seems to be ongoing quality improvement and technological advancement at every scale of the economy. This is the lesson made clear in The Goal.
Summary of The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
Written in a fast-paced thriller style, The Goal is the gripping novel which is transforming management thinking throughout the Western world. The author has been described by Fortune as a 'guru to industry' and by Businessweek as a 'genius'. It is a book to recommend to your friends in industry - even to your bosses - but not to your competitors.Alex Rogo is a harried plant manager working ever more desperately to try and improve performance. His factory is rapidly heading for disaster. So is his marriage. He has ninety days to save his plant - or it will be closed by corporate HQ, with hundreds of job losses. It takes a chance meeting with a colleague from student days - Jonah - to help him break out of conventional ways of thinking to see what needs to be done.
The story of Alex's fight to save his plant is more than compulsive reading. It contains a serious message for all managers in industry and explains the ideas which underline the Theory of Constraints (TOC) developed by Eli Goldratt. Eliyahu M. Goldratt is an internationally recognized leader in the development of new business management concepts and systems, and acts as an educator to many of the world's corporations. The 20th anniversary edition includes a series of detailed case study interviews by David Whitford, Editor at Large, Fortune Small Business, which explore how organizations around the world have been transformed by Eli Goldratt's ideas.
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