The Goal – A Process of Ongoing Improvement
By Dr. Eli Goldratt
A new hero is winning the hearts and minds
of American Managers. The hero’s name is
Alex Rogo, and thousands of executives
know of his struggle as plant manager to
save the UniCo factory in the town of
Bearington from being shut down.
Rogo’s fans can recount how the division
manager, Bill Peach, drove up in his
crimson Mercedes with the Number One
license plate and gave Rogo an ultimatum:
“Al, this is it: You’ve got three months to
turn this plant around.”
They can tell you how marketing executive
Johnny Jones, who sits behind a glass-and-
chrome table and wears Gucci loafers and
silk socks, leaned on Rogo to process the
orders of his top customers first. They
know about Hilton Smyth, the self-promoter
whose temporary elevation over Rogo
made it seem for a moment that all was
lost.
Most of all, they can tell you about Jonah, the imperious physicist who helped Rogo
discover and pursue the proper goal, which is making money, not saving it. Armed
with new understanding, Rogo and his comrades circumvented the baleful scrutiny of
financial officer Ethan Frost and his obsolete cost-accounting practices and executed
a stunning turnaround. Rogo ultimately realised that the principles he had learned
apply to more than just manufacturing. They are in fact the basis of a philosophy of
ongoing improvement whereby change becomes the norm rather than the exception,
and short-term gains are merely positive reinforcement to keep going and reap long-
term benefits.
Alex Rogo is a fictional character from a most unusual book, The Goal that has sold
over 2,000,000 copies world-wide. Many companies tell of dramatic results after key
people have read and implemented its ideas. A year after executives at Modine
Manufacturing Co. read the book, they reported that work-in-process inventory had
fallen by 70 percent. Their average manufacturing lead-time – from raw material to
shipment – dropped from 12.7 days to 3 days. Absenteeism plummeted by more
than 20 percent.
Many readers say they read the 274-page book in one or two sittings, unable to put it
down. “I felt I was the main character and the situations were ours,” wrote one vice
president of manufacturing. The enthusiasm of some readers seems to know no
bounds. One called it “the single most important literary work concerning business
that has or may ever come along.” Yet even management professors wrote excited
letters, and some planned to use it in their courses. Kodak and General Electric
managers were among those ordering copies for key personnel, and some orders
were in the hundreds.
