I read the book "The Goal" by Edi Goldratt some days back. It was made compulsory for our operations management class. If you haven't read the book yet, I would recommend it to you. It is a novel which is called "Love story of manufacturing" and is based on the theme of Theory of Constraints (TOC).
I have worked in the manufacturing industry. Though the process described in the book is different from that industry in terms of (batch) manufacturing, still there are methods and insights which can be replicated. Immediate recall would be like importance of and how to reduce inventories, how to handle bottlenecks and exploit them, and culture change by promoting ideas from workers.
I remember when our works manager asked them to prepare a make-shift bridge to reach the inside of the kiln, one which could be removed and inserted much faster, he was actually practicing the right way to treat the "bottleneck". Kiln is our bottleneck most of the time. As the book says, an hour lost on the "bottleneck" is an hour lost for the entire system.
I came to know that many companies overseas which have made reading "The Goal" compulsory for their entire staff. I recommend this book to all in the manufacturing sector.
Title: The Goal
Author: Edi Goldratt
Publisher: Productivity and Quality Publishing, Chennai
Rs: 395
ISBN: 81-85984-13-1
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