The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, Essay Sample with the Book Review

Goldratt Eliyahu and Jeff Cox's book 'The Goal' provides a new and unconventional way of defining and applying the most important business processes that normally determine the success of business organizations operating in today's dynamic business environment. According to Goldratt and Cox, a throughput simply means the collection of all tasks and resources that need to be done in order to accomplish a process in the conduction of business (8). As a plant manager, the Jeff Cox's throughput is made up of the resources channeled towards the processing of a customer's order. Within the context of 'The Goal,' an inventory refers to the total number of items that are contained in the plant. This includes the resources meant to facilitate the production procedure and the finished commodities ready to be delivered to customers. Operating expenses in the book's scenario represent the type of costs that the plant was incurring that are not directly linked to the production process. For instance, the administrative costs of running the plant's offices are considered to be an operational expense. The common feature of these definitions is that they refer to the procedures that determine the operational efficiency of the company. A good management of operational expenses, the throughput and inventory will ensure the company performs at its optimal levels.

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A bottleneck resource refers to the type of input that usually dictates the magnitude of the throughput. To be precise, a bottleneck denotes the resource that takes the longest time to be processed during the supply or production process. In the situation of the plant in question, the bottleneck resource is the services that are offered at the subassembly that need to be done before a customer's order is completed (Goldratt and Cox 11). In normal circumstances, a bottleneck can be any resource that consumes the longest time in a certain process. For example, before a truck carrying important raw materials enters the compound of the factory, it has to spend around 30 minutes waiting for its weight to be measured at a weighbridge. In this scenario, the weighbridge facility is the bottleneck because of the long periods it took for its process to be concluded.

Various actions can be taken to improve the throughput of the plant covered in 'The Goal.' The reduction of the amount of resources spent in the bottleneck facility is critical to the enhancement of throughput of the plant. First, the company should ensure that the machinery being used is of optimal quality so as to enhance the speed and efficiency of the production procedure. Secondly, reducing the parts rejection rate can yield benefits for the throughput. Thirdly, the provision of sufficient training to an organization's employees can increase their effectiveness. Finally, the suppression or total elimination of throughput bottlenecks will improve the plant's throughput (Goldratt and Cox 52).

Pitfalls refer to the demerits or risks that have not yet been discovered by the plant managers. There are a few pitfalls observable in the plant in question. First, the company needs to reduce its reliance on resources used in the bottleneck facility because intensification of the use of the bottleneck facility might increase the liabilities associated with the storage of inventory. Secondly, the delegation of duties in order to make the new system work might have a negative impact on the morale of other employees thus reducing their efficiency. Thirdly, the decision to always ensure that the bottleneck machine is never idle might increase its rate of wear and tear and thus result in additional capital expenditures for the company (Goldratt and Cox 98).

Works Cited

Goldratt, Eliyahu M., and Jeff Cox. The goal: a process of ongoing improvement. Routledge, 2016.