Martin Maybin
Dr. Sirias
MGT 633 Constraints Management
February 7, 2020
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
Eli Goldratt tells a compelling story about a man who faces his entire factory being shut down
unless he can strategize a way to make the plant run more efficiently and start bringing in a
profit. Alex Rogo is the Plant Manager at UniCo located in Bearington Massachusetts, where he
grew up. The manufacturing plant brings him many new obstacles on a daily basis, all while
trying to balance his family life, which he struggles with as well.
The story begins with Alex arriving to work only to find that his space has been taken by his
supervisor, Bill Peach. Already infuriated by this, Alex enters the factory to find that Peach has
caused an uproar with many of the employees. Once the chaos has been resolved, Alex and Bill
sit down to chat about why he is here. Unsurprisingly, his visit is due to production levels
decreasing ever since Alex took the reins six months ago but that wasn’t his only concern. Bucky
Burnside, president of one of UniCo’s biggest customers had an outstanding order by about
seven weeks. Everything had to be stopped and order #41427 had to be made top priority. Before
they concluded their meeting, Peach informed Alex that he had three months to turn the plant
around or it was facing closure. When they were at a follow up meeting where they had to
provide reports to Peach so he could see what exactly was going on, he found an old cigar in his
jacket pocket from an encounter with his old professor, Jonah, at O’Hare airport.
While waiting for his next flight, Alex recognized Jonah and they began to chat. Alex informed
him that he was going to speak at a seminar about robotics. After some more small talk, Alex had
told him about how the robots operate within UniCo and Jonas was curious as to how much
overall productivity has improved with these new additions. Alex told him that there was an
improvement of 36%. Jonah then went on to ask if they had seen an increase in profits by 36%
due to the addition of the robots. Alex was taken back by this an explained how just one
department has seen the 36% improvement. As they continue their discussion, Jonah explains
that he has been studying manufacturing processes and asks Alex what productivity is. Alex
cannot answer him, so he tells him that productivity is accomplishing something in terms of your
goal. Alex, who is still in deep thought, can’t even think of what UniCo’s overall goal is. Jonah
