Publisher: North River Press, 1986, 179 pages
ISBN: 0-88427-062-9
Keywords: Operations, Quality
On the surface, Eli Goldratt and Bob Fox are a marked contrast in background and styles. Goldratt was born and raised in Israel during a tumultuous period in the Middle East and has fought in three wars. He left a promising academic life after receiving a doctorate in physics from Bar Han University to launch a seemingly Don Quixote venture. Even though he never worked in a plant or even visited one in the U.S., Goldratt's goal was to teach Western manufacturers how to schedule their operations.
Appearing in an open-collared white shirt without coat or tie, Goldratt is often described as brash, evangelistic and a killer of sacred cows. Nevertheless, he has in seven short years become an internationally recognized thought leader in manufacturing. His OPT logistical system (small OPT) and the OPT process of ongoing improvement (big OPT) are revolutionizing how manufacturing is conducted. Goldratt's developments have been adopted by more than 100 manufacturers and are already being taught at more than 50 colleges and universities in the Western world. Some schools are even devoting entire courses to his inventions. His first book, The Goal, a novel of business, has become an underground bestseller in board rooms, colleges and the factory floor and is already available in eight languages.
Bob Fox's background was much more conventional starting in the security of a small town in the heartland of Nebraska. After studying engineering and business at Notre Dame and Carnegie Mellon Universities, Bob began his industrial career as a foreman. Progressing rapidly through a series of production and engineering positions, he served as a Vice President of Manufacturing. After a stint as General Manager, he returned to and became a partner at Booz, Allen and Hamilton, the internationally recognized management consulting firm. An articulate, polished, professional speaker, he lectured frequently before professional and industry groups.
The emergence of Japanese industrial competition caused Goldratt's and Fox's paths to first cross, and eventually linked their energies to find better solutions for Western manufacturers. Fox was one of the first to publicly describe the techniques and success of Japanese manufacturers. He recognized that Goldratt's computerized OPT logistical system, although developed totally independent, was remarkedly similar to the manual Japanese Kanban approach. Joining forces with Goldratt and other colleagues at Creative Output , they have successfully challenged such manufacturing sacred cows as the use of efficiencies, variances and standard costs. More recently, they have expanded OPT into a process of ongoing improvement that many believe is superior to the Japanese Just-in-Time approach.
On the surface, Goldratt's and Fox's similarities seem to be confined to a love of fine cigars, but they share an intensive drive and deep conviction that the growing dangerous imbalance of manufacturing capabilities between the West and East must and can be changed. In conjunction with a number of major companies and universities, they are now building the Abraham Y. Goldratt Institute to develop the know-how to change this imbalance.
Nice overheads with explaining texts. To be used together with The Goal.
Can't understand why I paid for this, as the authors claims that this is taught in a number of MBA courses around the world (and thereby would be found in variants all over the world wide web [not that I've ever seen very many, and I've tried]). If you're a TOC convert, buy it, otherwise it is a waste of money.
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