The Goal 2

The Goal 2

  • Submitted By: ereid7
  • Date Submitted: 05/03/2010 7:51 PM
  • Category: Business
  • Words: 1741
  • Page: 7
  • Views: 482

“The Goal”

“The Goal,” written by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Scott, depicts the story of a plant manager’s struggle with the task of trying to turn around his production facility in three months to be profitable or it will close while also trying to balance his family life at the same time. Alex Rogo, a young, upwardly mobile executive began his career at UniCo fifteen years ago. Alex now works under Bill Peach, the division manager, as a plant manager of a manufacturing factory in Bearington, his home town. Upon taking this position, Peach informs Rogo that he has three months to turn the facility around or they will have to close it. The facility has orders two-months behind scheduled delivery date, and he has over $20 million in unsold finished goods inventory sitting in a warehouse. The items that can be delivered are being expedited through the factory with overtime and special handling involved at every step. As a result of the unmet delivery commitments, sales begin slowing down, material costs increase, and every efficiency metric spirals downward. With the enormous amount of pressure being placed on Alex, he takes it out on his two children and wife which begin to tear them apart. With all of this going on, Alex happens to run into his old physics teacher, Jonah, who introduces him to a different way of looking at the situation. Alex is quick to tell Jonah about his firm's investment in automation with purchasing new robots and how it has led to increased productivity. Jonah, in turn, questions Alex about some key identifiers of productivity such as decreasing inventory, reducing expenses, and selling more products. Jonah states, that “productivity is the act of bringing a company closer to its goal. Every action that brings a company closer to its goal is productive. Every action that does not bring a company closer to its goal is not productive” (Goldratt and Cox, 32). Jonah then explains to Alex that he cannot understand the...

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