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The Goal: 40th Anniversary Edition: A Process of Ongoing Improvement Paperback – June 1, 2012
Purchase options and add-ons
- Print length408 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherNorth River Press
- Publication dateJune 1, 2012
- Dimensions8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
- ISBN-109780884271956
- ISBN-13978-0884271956
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Product details
- ASIN : 0884271951
- Publisher : North River Press; 3rd ed. edition (June 1, 2012)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 408 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9780884271956
- ISBN-13 : 978-0884271956
- Item Weight : 1.56 pounds
- Dimensions : 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1 in Production & Operations
- #2 in Organizational Change (Books)
- #34 in Business Management (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
Eliyahu M. Goldratt was an educator, author, physicist, philosopher and business leader, but first and foremost, he was a thinker who provoked others to think. Characterized as unconventional, stimulating, and "a slayer of sacred cows," he urged his audience to examine and reassess their business practices with a fresh, new vision.
Dr. Goldratt is best known as the father of the Theory of Constraints (TOC), a process of ongoing improvement that continuously identifies and leverages a system’s constraints in order to achieve its goals. He introduced TOC’s underlying concepts in his business novel, The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, which has been recognized as one of the best-selling business books of all time. First published in 1984, The Goal has been updated three times and sold more than 7 million copies worldwide. It has been translated into 32 languages.
Heralded as a "guru to industry" by Fortune magazine and “a genius” by Business Week, Dr. Goldratt continued to advance the TOC body of knowledge throughout his life, building on the Five Focusing Steps (known as the process of ongoing improvement or POOGI) with TOC-derived tools such as Drum-Buffer-Rope, Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) and the Thinking Processes. He authored ten other TOC-related books, including four business novels.
Born in Israel on March 31, 1947, Dr. Goldratt earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Tel Aviv University, and a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy from Bar-Ilan University. He is the founder of TOC for Education, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing TOC Thinking and TOC tools to teachers and their students, and Goldratt Consulting. In addition to his pioneering work in business management and education, Dr. Goldratt holds patents in a number of areas ranging from medical devices to drip irrigation to temperature sensors. He died on June 11, 2011, at the age of 64.
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Customers find the book engaging and easy to read. They appreciate the insightful concepts and practical advice it provides on improving productivity and operational effectiveness. The storyline is clear and easy to follow, with simple lessons that are easy to understand. However, some readers feel the pacing is not exciting or engaging, while others consider it timeless and universal.
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Customers find the book engaging and easy to read. They appreciate the way it integrates educational narratives with practical business strategies. The novel-style writing style is described as fantastic and a great piece of literature. Readers find it an amazing book for students majoring in industrial engineering.
"...The Goal by Goldratt is a magnificent piece of literature where industrial engineering student can see how the different techniques learned in class..." Read more
"Amazing and perspective altering. A must-read for any business leader or manager. Great story and very engaging as well. Highly recommend." Read more
"...In short, I think the novel does a fantastic job of introducing the down-sides of "Taylorist" management approaches, even in manufacturing,..." Read more
"...definitely recommend Goldratt’s book for anyone who enjoys both a good story and the idea of ongoing improvement." Read more
Customers find the book insightful and useful for manufacturing. They appreciate the author's unique approach to analyzing business operations, providing practical insights and relatable principles. The book provides an easy-to-understand explanation of technical aspects, making it relatable.
"...However, this book turned to be a marvelous composition. The reader is always interested in the topic, and one can feel like being part of the plot...." Read more
"Amazing and perspective altering. A must-read for any business leader or manager. Great story and very engaging as well. Highly recommend." Read more
"...in the form of a novel with a clear narrative path, it presents the basic ideas and some of their most important implications in an easily-digested..." Read more
"...effect on manufacturing, Goldratt has really created an outstanding book to explain the idea of the theory constraints...." Read more
Customers find the book helpful and engaging. It provides timeless lessons on enhancing productivity and operational effectiveness. The book offers practical advice on how to improve businesses. Readers appreciate the idea of continuous improvement and interesting production strategies introduced in the story.
"...the time reading this book; thanks to this book, I feel better prepared as an engineer." Read more
"Amazing and perspective altering. A must-read for any business leader or manager. Great story and very engaging as well. Highly recommend." Read more
"...’s book for anyone who enjoys both a good story and the idea of ongoing improvement." Read more
"...a newcomer to industry logistics, "The Goal" offers timeless lessons on enhancing productivity and operational effectiveness...no wonder it's one of..." Read more
Customers find the book's storyline easy to follow and understand. They appreciate the simple insights and common sense approach. The concept of bottlenecks is beautifully simplified for readers to apply. The book is a parable on manufacturing efficiency written as a novel from the perspective of a factory worker.
"...Overall, The Goal is a magnificent work that I highly recommend to any individual to read in order to understand more about the..." Read more
"...This book tells a story, which is really easy to understand...." Read more
"...chapter of the book, more or less, the concept of bottlenecks was beautifully simplified to be able to be applied by almost anyone—technical degree..." Read more
"I liked that it's framed as a story, with a clear uncomplicated but believable plot...." Read more
Customers have different views on the book's dated content. Some find it an engaging read that simplifies the thought process behind the theory and is still relevant today. Others feel the content has started to show its age.
"Very engaging book that melds plant operations/activity scheduling into a fable that had lessons for project management and successful operation of..." Read more
"...the inclusion is still a strength - it is just that the content has not aged all that well...." Read more
"...Despite all of this, this book is a classic for good reason. I definitely recommend it to anyone." Read more
"...for experienced operations personnel to use to gain insight into complex scheduling processes and could help with getting buy-in for managing change..." Read more
Customers find the book's pacing slow and unengaging. They mention the stories are time-wasting and don't help them understand the goal. The characters are one-dimensional and the narrative arc loses its compelling power. Many find the book repetitive and contrived, though it is educational.
"...As a reader of fiction, it is horrible. You don't know why these characters are in love in the first place and their reconciliation is unbelievable...." Read more
"...It’s boring and long but came in on time whenever I needed it." Read more
"Funny, real, relevant, and useful for middle and upper management...." Read more
"...The story is a little contrived, but much more interesting than sitting through a lecture and/or mathematical proof...." Read more
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The Goal is Masterful, Meaningful, Mandatory. WebNutrients Production Process Fixed!
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2014When I was first assigned to read this book, I thought it was going to be a purely theoretical material. I thought it was going to be a book difficult to read and/or keep me interested to continue reading. However, this book turned to be a marvelous composition. The reader is always interested in the topic, and one can feel like being part of the plot. This book is a perfect combination of a narrative, and an explanation. The author dedicated the time and effort to make sure that anyone, who grabs this book and reads it, will be able to clearly understand the material presented. As an industrial engineering student, we are focused on improving an existent process and/or system in a facility. Moreover, we are provided with a broad set of techniques that can be utilized in accomplishing this purpose. The Goal by Goldratt is a magnificent piece of literature where industrial engineering student can see how the different techniques learned in class are applied into a real world problem.
In The Goal, Goldratt also provides the reader with a description and an example of how to apply the Theory of Constraints. Alex Rogo, a plant engineer at UniCo Manufacturing, is presented with a complex problem; he has several months of orders overdue and his plant is not capable of delivering any order in time. Therefore, Bill Peach, Alex’s boss, tells him that he has only three months to turn his plant around. As a result, Alex and his team start working in finding a solution; however, they are not capable to find it without the help of Jonah, Alex’s Physics professor. Nonetheless, it is important to mention that Jonah does not provide Alex with immediate solutions; instead, he uses the Socratic Method to teach Alex how to be able to localize the bottlenecks and non-bottlenecks of his process and to determine the goal of his plant. Therefore, after spending several days thinking about what the goal is, he is finally able to define it as “Reducing operational expenses and inventory while increasing throughput” (Goldratt 87). Jonah also teaches Alex that in every company there is dependent events and statistical fluctuations that affect the process. According to the Theory of Constraints, one must identify the bottleneck and then work around it; in other words, one must take into account the bottleneck in order to increase throughput and ultimately reach the goal. Jonah, however, after providing Alex with enough help, he takes a step back on his role and forces Alex to learn how to be able to identify the bottlenecks on his own and what approach or process to use to fix the bottlenecks. At the end, Alex finally understands that it is of utmost importance for any individual to be able to answer three questions: “‘what to change?’, ‘what to change to?’, and ‘how to cause a change?’” (Goldratt 337).
Overall, The Goal is a magnificent work that I highly recommend to any individual to read in order to understand more about the Theory of Constraints and how to become a better manager. I deeply believe that any individual who reads this book will be greatly benefited from the material presented; in my personal experience, I am pleased that I was able to read this book since I was given the opportunity to add a new technique to my engineering toolbox. I encourage any reader that is uncertain whether or not to buy this book to purchase it. I believe that it is definitely worth the time reading this book; thanks to this book, I feel better prepared as an engineer.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2025Amazing and perspective altering. A must-read for any business leader or manager. Great story and very engaging as well. Highly recommend.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2018I am reading this having already read Gene Kim's "The Phoenix Project." As you might expect, I am in IT - so why read this? In short, I think the novel does a fantastic job of introducing the down-sides of "Taylorist" management approaches, even in manufacturing, which is what Taylorism was developed for in the first place. By presenting the material in the form of a novel with a clear narrative path, it presents the basic ideas and some of their most important implications in an easily-digested and enjoyable way. You can then go on and read some of the excellent nonfiction literature on Lean that is targeted at your type of business and start with a intuition about where things can go, making that literature easier to digest and understand. (As an example, I read Reinertson's excellent "Principles of Product Development Flow" before reading this. I understood in an "I can apply these ideas" way about 30% of the work, and kinda-sorta got the rest. AFTER reading this book and seeing a bigger picture, much more of his theory makes sense to me in a way that I can actually use it now.)
The book has a few dings against it - mostly simply that it is dated. The deteriorating relationship with his stay-at-home wife is realistic for the time in which the book was written - but it smacks of 1986 now. (This from a guy who got married in 1986...) While it is a bit of a distraction, it does help the book make the point that improving things at work in the right way can and does improve people's outside-of-work lives in very real ways. You will not get that empathetic viewpoint from the nonfiction literature on the subject, so the inclusion is still a strength - it is just that the content has not aged all that well.
On the positive side, it swings into other ideas too. The discussion of how traditional accounting rules and consequential financial controls can create a set of counterproductive incentives is telling, and presages by a couple of decades the work being done now in the Beyond Budgeting movement. So it is a great jumping-off point for that too.
Both this book and "The Phoenix Project" are pretty easy reads. If you gun through both over a weekend or two you will be able to see how the principles of Lean developed in manufacturing can be applied to other kinds of work.
Top reviews from other countries
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MikeReviewed in Mexico on November 14, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Buen libro
Recomiendo
- AndreyReviewed in Canada on October 30, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Great
Great book
- Olivier SReviewed in France on February 2, 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Very well written, goes far beyond factory processes
Great book, the story is very well written, you will make a great journey in the processes of optimizations, change management, personal life handling, career evolution. Contrary to other books derived from it ( phoenix for example) it's very open ended, the intellectual / mental processes described can be applied to many domains, and the reading is really enjoyable, exceptional work!
- Shashank ChattopadhyayaReviewed in India on May 16, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Great reading experience (Kindle)
I bought the Kindle edition and it was great reading through this novel. Goldratt creates a beautiful narrative to teach theory of Constraints. He makes it so easy to catch the underlying principle of the Theory. I also lo e "Herbie" :)
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as1Reviewed in Germany on September 2, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Wetter Inhalt, spannendes Buch.
Mir hat es sehr gut gefallen, dass Wissen in Form einer Erzählung übermittelt wurde und nicht in Form eines Berichts oder einer Studie. Das macht es für mich viel einfacher zu folgen und dran zu bleiben.
Klare Empfehlung!