The Goal Book Report
Angelina Tambunan
ACCT 508
Book Report ‘The Goal’
I. Summary
The story takes place at a fictitious town called Bearington where the Uniware manufacturing plant of the UniCo Company is situated. Whatever products the plant manufactures was not mentioned in the novel. The plant is headed by the plant manager Alex Rogo who is also the lead character of the novel.
The problems begin when one upset customer approaches Alex’s boss, Bill Peach about a very late order. Actually Alex’s plant has not been profitable for some time and because of that Bill gives an ultimatum to Alex to turn the plant around in 3 months or else the plant will be closed unless there are visible improvements. Due to the limited amount of time given, Alex almost gives up on the plant until Alex remembers his conversation with Jonah, his college physics professor. They happened to come across each other in the airport during Alex’s business trip. During that time, Jonah asked him several question to analyze his company situation. This conversation then leads Jonah asking Alex, “What is the goal of your manufacturing company?” Although Jonah didn’t give the answer to Alex but eventually Alex get the answer after rethinking their conversation. Alex realizes that the goal of his company or in fact any business is to make money. After finding out the answer, Alex then decide to contact Jonah one more time to consult further about his company.
After contacting Jonah, Alex gets three measurements that can determine the success of a business. The three measurements are throughput, or “the rate at which the system generates money through sales,” inventory, or “all the money that system has invested in purchasing things which it intends to sell,” and operational expense, or “all the money the system spends in order to turn inventory into throughput”. Using these measurements, Alex has a basis to determine if his decisions are helping the plant move towards the goal. The goal of the plant is to
ACCT 508
Book Report ‘The Goal’
I. Summary
The story takes place at a fictitious town called Bearington where the Uniware manufacturing plant of the UniCo Company is situated. Whatever products the plant manufactures was not mentioned in the novel. The plant is headed by the plant manager Alex Rogo who is also the lead character of the novel.
The problems begin when one upset customer approaches Alex’s boss, Bill Peach about a very late order. Actually Alex’s plant has not been profitable for some time and because of that Bill gives an ultimatum to Alex to turn the plant around in 3 months or else the plant will be closed unless there are visible improvements. Due to the limited amount of time given, Alex almost gives up on the plant until Alex remembers his conversation with Jonah, his college physics professor. They happened to come across each other in the airport during Alex’s business trip. During that time, Jonah asked him several question to analyze his company situation. This conversation then leads Jonah asking Alex, “What is the goal of your manufacturing company?” Although Jonah didn’t give the answer to Alex but eventually Alex get the answer after rethinking their conversation. Alex realizes that the goal of his company or in fact any business is to make money. After finding out the answer, Alex then decide to contact Jonah one more time to consult further about his company.
After contacting Jonah, Alex gets three measurements that can determine the success of a business. The three measurements are throughput, or “the rate at which the system generates money through sales,” inventory, or “all the money that system has invested in purchasing things which it intends to sell,” and operational expense, or “all the money the system spends in order to turn inventory into throughput”. Using these measurements, Alex has a basis to determine if his decisions are helping the plant move towards the goal. The goal of the plant is to