The Problems Faced By Alex Rogo

Get the most out of the constraint when it is identified, or “exploit” it. The constraint must always be managed in specifically working this part of the process.

At this point the factory is operating at a capacity like never before. They have been shipping a record number of orders in a record amount of time. All of the orders past the shipping date have been completed and shipped. They are now shipping current orders on-time and early in in some cases. Now that the plat is responding better to market demands, Alex can focus on sales throughput, and gets the division sales manager, Johnny Jons, to market his plant's improved capacity. Together they manage to tie down a major contract

Nathan Felder must decide whether or not it is in his best interest to listen to his investors and attempt faster growth. Alternatively, he needs to be able to defend to his investors that maintaining status quo is best for the company because it avoids the risks associated with the growth options. The final decision the needs to be made is whether or not he sells the company.

2. Choose 1 of the actions listed at the beginning of this activity. How does the process of cooperating, communicating, and thinking like a scientist relate to that action?

Jonah asks Alex if the robots have increased the amount of products shipped per day. Secondly, he asks if the robots have reduced the plants people expense. Finally, Jonah asks if the robots have decreased the amount of inventory that the plant has.

Throughout the entirety of the book, The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement, author Eliyahu M. Goldratt focuses on demonstrating the importance of the Theory of Constraints and what corporations should do in order to increase profits. A major term used throughout the novel is “throughput,” which according to the text, is “the rate at which the system generates money through sales” (Goldratt 60). Once a bottleneck machine in a production process is identified, there are multiple ways to increase throughput without expanding the physical capacity of the machine.

After reading the chapter about Hanna Andersson, I noticed when the company discovered they had to continue to be competitive the Hanna Andersson company had to make a plan. Therefore, the company decided to promote from within to help lead the company (as cited in Principal of Management, Para 4). As well as, selling equity to gain capital in an effort to continue towards improving the business (para 5). Similarly, when having trouble staying competitive the Hanna Andersson company began selling product online (para 7). In addition, Hanna Andersson designed and implemented distribution through retail to facilitate the transformation of the company (para 7). While meeting the goals of the investors Hanna Andersson company held the same CEO that helped preserve the direction of the company that benefit the business goals and values (para 7). Ultimately, the planning when making changes or expanding to stay competitive helped Hanna Andersson reach a new goal without taking extraordinary risks.

1. What types of decisions must Chad Thomas make daily for his company’s operations to run effectively? Over the long run?

Alex tells Jonah of the problems at the plant and the three months in which to fix them. Jonah says they can be fixed in that time and then they go over the problems the plant has. First, Jonah tells Alex to forget about the robots. He also tells Alex that "A plant in which everyone is working all the time is very inefficient." Jonah suggest that Alex question how he is managing the capacity in the plant and consider the concept of a balanced plant. According to Jonah, this "is a plant where the capacity of each and every resource is balanced exactly with demand from the market."

He told Jonah that the plant he is working with installed some robots that have increased productivity by 36%. Jonah replied with “so your company is making 36% more money from your plant, just by installing some robots?” Alex said no and Jonah asked again “was your plant able to ship even one more product per day as a result of what happened in the departments where the robots were installed?” Alex answered again with a no while Jonah asked again if the plant has fire anybody and if the inventories go down but Alex’s answers are no. Jonah again asked “with such high efficiencies you must be running your robots constantly? Alex said yes and Jonah continued with predictions that the plant’s inventory is very high and Alex’s plant can not deliver products on time. Jonah added that Alex thinks he is running an efficient plant but he is not.

The goal of a manufacturing organization is to make money. Jonah poses this as a question: "What is the goal?" and Rogo actually struggles with it for a day or two, but any manager or executive that can't answer that question without hesitation should be fired without hesitation.

The Goal a Process of Ongoing Improvements was Dr.Eliyahu M Goldratt first book. It is a fiction business management novel that primarily focuses on the theory of constraints. The author Goldratt is a critical acclaimed Israeli business manager, physicist professor, and author. He is thought of as the guru of business operation. Goldratt is the creator of optimized production technique and the theory of constraints. He also is the author of the following books: Production the TOC way, IT’S Not LUCK, Critical Chain, Necessary but not sufficient, ISNT It Obvious, The Choice, The Race, What is This Thing Called: theory of constraints, and The Haystack Syndrome.

Alex took a decision to stay in his position for the next three months and started looking for Jonah. Alex got Jonah’s phone number from his friend who knows about Jonah. Alex talked with Jonah eventually. The conversation with Jonah helped Alex to define the main goal of the company, Making Money, and put some measurements to evaluate his progress toward the goal. The three measurements are: throughput, inventory and operational expenses. Also, Jonah has an opinion about the robots in the plant. He thought that robots do not increase

Alex Rogo is manager for one of UniCo's production plants. Recently Alex's plant, as well as the others in his division, have been having major problems shipping orders on time. The company has considered closing the plant and has given Alex only three months to make a significant improvement or the plant will be closed and he as well as all of his employees will be without a job. At this point everything seems to be crashing down around him while at a meeting, discussing the future of the division, he recalls a chance encounter with an old acquaintance, a physicist named Jonah. During their discussion Alex discovers that Jonah is currently involved in the science of manufacturing organizations. Intrigued Alex

Alex meets Jonah, his favorite professor in school, surprisingly at an airport, during his rather traumatic phase of professional and family life. Jonah opens his eyes to a new world of constraints and variability. He tells Alex that he is actually heading a plant not with inefficient people but with an inefficient system. Jonah gets to know all this by just asking a few simple questions about Alex’s professional life