"The Goal"-E.M.Goldratt

Oh! what a book on manufacturing... I am just bowled out. Just superb....

We have a course in operations management in this term and guess what, this novel is a read for the course... What a book this is... Really well narrated, its very easy for plant managers to map to this charter - Alex Rogo mentioned in the book.

The book gives a clear idea about the concepts that are to be looked at when making a manufacturing decision. The book gives the understanding that its not just the modern technology that will ensure success to the plant or may be to a division. It is more about understanding the constrains that a system has, the way to handle these constrains. It gives a thought on the financial picture that a company is in... the actual implications that might be present in the figures, and what it actually means to the firm.

The analogies that are given in this to book to a manufacturing process... is just too good. The thought process of Al, in the book shows the involvement that a manger is to have in order to succeed in this career.

The book clearly states the vision that a manager needs to have to be able to successfully manage an ailing plant/division....- He is to know "what to change?", "what to change to?" and "how to change?"

In the later part of the book after the novel is complete Goldratt gives his experiences after the book was published.. its worth a read...Some of the plant managers who read the book also reverted back to ask if Goldratt had been trying to get his book on their plant situation... its that real!!!

To conclude... its just an awesome book...worth a read.

Some ref:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goal_(novel)