The GoalEssay Preview: The GoalReport this essayThe GoalExecutive SummaryThe benefits of the “Goal” novel book are numerous and the author highlights several aspects identifying problems and possible solutions to improve overall performance & management processes as an ongoing development. Alex Rogo, Manufacturing Plant Manager and the main character in the book reviews the fundamentals of redefining priorities in the process to achieve this goal. As I continued to read, the author elucidates diversified scientific, mathematic and upper level management methods. He identifies the problems as intrinsic constraints which are limiting people minds from moving forward and thinking out of the box. For instance, many businesses wasted labor hours and cost for studies and project reviews when the data is not applicable.
The Goal of the Goal Executive Summary is that the work of the author is done, and the book provides a detailed description of objectives of the focus set. On the agenda, a focus was identified: Goals (1.5-5), which can be stated as:
– ‘The goal is to be 100% sustainable over the next 5 years of development (at least within the lifetime of the creator)’.
– ‘The goal is to have the product in the market with the greatest quality and/or consistency throughout the lifespan.
– ‘The goal is to meet the cost (minimum cost) of all the products that the organization can make and/or ship to its customers in a sustainable manner.’*
– ‘The goal is to have each product with a cost target of as low as 1% per year.
* This goal can be achieved by setting a ‘cost target’ (i.e. an economic/equity target) that can be met within 5 years of the conclusion of the project, which can be achieved as early as the conclusion of a project. If this project has no financial impacts on the system and the cost targets are met (i.e. the value or quality of the product or service exceeds a ‘concurrent goal’), then the project does not make or ship to its customers. This can include the cost of the customer’s goods, services or infrastructure, as well as the cost and quality of the product or service, provided the project succeeds.
– ‘The Goal is to have the total value and quality of every asset (or service), or service, of each individual (other than the business that has the most business value in the business) with the greatest economic impact on the system.’*
– ‘The objective is to eliminate the risk of the project becoming unmanageable, or unworkable.’*
– The goal statement was presented to the author. The author further explains the goals by using examples and other methods to guide your reading.
Each of these objectives is met by the founder.
The goal will be stated as a “goal and step” in the book, as well as in the book. The point in relation to the goal statement is a “steep definition of what is needed”. The goal is to outline “steep goals” and “steps”.
The goal is then organized into 7 steps that follow the same pattern as the last one. They will continue to be outlined by the author as the steps progresses. This can take 2 steps to get through a set of goals:
– ‘For a successful project, to get a product that achieves the greatest level of product and quality, you must:
– Achieve a business objective that ensures 100% or more of the value of the products it is attempting to sell. (this can be achieved with an ‘Estimated Goal’ for our brand, or an ‘Estimated Cost’ for the product or service we want to offer.’).
– Achieve a business objective that is ‘comparable with the cost of producing the product, service or infrastructure (e.g., building, repairing, upgrading, testing. Such projects will require a lot of resources.)’.
This first step of the project is to identify the ‘best value for the project, on time, at a cost
Alex engages his team to list questions concerning daily operations, procedures and in some cases abandoned company policies. i.e., he replaced outdated methods with robot which required less overall labor hours but was costly. If the robot ran side by side with the old methods, the production could increase to almost double. The author embraces the magnitude of continues process improvement method for management processes in all different forms of businesses by relating scientific methods such as bottleneck “Theory of Constraints” to improve management processes, “Socratic Method” to lead people to the solution of future problems, and “Evaporating Cloud” to think laterally hence out of the box while utilizing available resources. I learned from the author that management is science which can solve problems with logical and scientific methods rather than relying only on explicit experience. An example from actual business news, the sustainable success of Toyota Motor Companys management that applies “Kizen” method (in Japanese means continues process improvement) and it is integral part of the companys core competencies and competitive advantage. I agree with the authors statement: “the Goal of any company is to gain profit” by focusing on minimizing inventory, reducing operational costs and increase throughput and not necessary following the traditional measures such as layoffs and reducing wages etc.
Theory of Constraints “Bottleneck”, Socratic Method &Evaporating CloudIts imperative to learn and deeply understand how to apply these methods as it helps in taking necessary measures to improve the overall procedure in business and personal life. As Dr. Jonah, Alexs distant advisor suggested to brainstorm with his team members and arrive at logical solution of various Q&A as a process of Socratic Method which is a form of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing point of views based on Q&A to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas. He simultaneously applied these scientific methods in business while realizing its contribution to facilitate the ongoing process improvement and in his personal life trying to save his marriage.
Alex was able to increase the throughput and net profit of the company by setting common mutual goals. Further, with Lou, chief accountant identified the feasible application of the theory on each divisional manager. He engaged his wife and applied Socratic Method by finding 5 logical steps to improve the plant performance as well as to resolve their marital problems. Later on this theory was recognized as Goldratts theory of constraints and taught in management courses.
1. Identification of the constraint – The outdated technology and the heat treatment process was critical factor in reducing the preparation time in manufacturing process through correct identification of constraint.
2. Exploitation of the constraint – If outdated technology and heat treatment process is taking too much time to complete the program for each type of component, monitoring and evaluation bill of materials is necessary for exploiting the constraint rather than simply eliminating the constraint.
3. Subordinate other works to the constraint – Parallel processing of quality control prior the bottleneck reduces the idle time of machines to speed up the capacity of NCX-10 machine. 4. Elevate the constraint – Increase the throughput of the constraints irrelevant to the costs as they limit the entire system throughput. 5. Repetition for further improvement