Constraint-finance

This book is a good guide for experimented people who has experimented TOC in manufacturing and now needs to apply TOC in service. It sets an outstanding relationship between TOC main concepts, as regarded in factories, and how to yield results in service organization. The best chapter is "Let there be light". Anyway, a remark must be made. Ely ignores the special skills of Toyota Production System in reducing set-up's. He accepts to stop machines as long as stops saling, rather than apply TPS "one-touch exchange die" technique in the constraint, in order to reduce lead-time and reach a segmented market, which would raise sales and improve performance.

Mr. Schragenheim has put together a killer collection of business dilemmas, explained them is sufficient detail so as to illustrate the problematic issues, and provided TOC analysis of each.

The book starts out with an intro to TOC, and proceeds to explore a variety of small and large business and projects experiencing problems. You feel like you are reading about, and can identify with real people, as you progress through the book. The issues faced are common, and the thoughts, intuition, and frustrations of the characters familiar. All cases have constraints in need of elevation, and subordination, which Eli illustrates through both written TOC analysis, and through the use of traditional TOC constraint busting diagrams.

"Management Dilemmas", falls smack in between "The Goal", and Dettmers' "Goldratt's Theory of Constraints." It's more in depth than "The Goal", but not as intense as Dettmer's book. If you are just getting your feet wet in TOC this book will not be over your head.

An excellent addition to this book, and all the TOC material out there would be case studies and applications in Dot-Com world. For much less than the cost of a Super Bowl ad (or the 120+ million it took Boo.com to go BOOHOO and belly up in 6 months), companies could come up with a systematic approach to identify, elevate, and exploit constraints, increase throughput, and have a chance of turning a profit.

This book shows the diversity and applicability of TOC in a very accessable format. An excellent read.

It's Not Luck is the follow up to the Goal. Written in the form of a Novel, it examines different value perceptions of the market. You'll learn about ultra variable costing, utilizing excess capacity to serve seemingly unprofitable market segments, and how to break down barriers to achieve new avenues to profitability. Priceline is a perfect example of an entire company built on exploiting constraints in the marketplace, and wringing every last bit of revenue (maybe one day profitably) out of previously unused capacity.

The book provides a brief introduction to the Thinking Processes, which are used to examine conflicting logical arguments, and develop a workable solution, satisfactory to both sides. Within the book, the methodology of the Thinking Processes is applied to both business dilemmas, and to that of parent/teenager relationships. It's all about building understanding between people with differing perspectives, and the variety of situations to which it is applied clearly illustrates the versatility of Goldratt's methods.

If you found "The Goal" valuable, you'll like this one, though w/o Jeff Cox, the writing isn't quite as good as the Goal. To continue your journey into the world of TOC and the TP (Theory of Constraints and Thinking Processes) look for books by H. William Dettmer. No novel formats in Dettmer's books, that I've read, but much more thorough explanation of TOC.

For TOC on project management, check out Goldratt's "Critical Chain"!

Goldratt has been an especially prolific author in recent years. This is the second of three books; the others are The Goal (1992) and Critical Chain (1997). In The Goal, Goldratt's primary focus is on the a-pplications of what he calls a Theory of Constraints (TOC) to the manufacturing process. In that book and in this one, he presents his ideas in the form of fiction (as a novel), complete with a cast of characters, a multi-dimensional narrative (or plot), a variety of settings, and perhaps most important of all, a series of conflicts. Few other authors with sufficient business acumen would attempt, much less succeed (as Goldratt does) in combining the two genres. Long ago, someone suggested that luck is the residue of preparation. Goldratt seems to agree. In this volume, he devotes much of his attention to demonstrating the relevance of TOC to marketing, sales, inventory control, distribution channels, strategic alliances, and conflict resolution. I believe it was Carl Rogers who suggested that one of the most effective strategies for conflict resolution is to set aside all points on which both parties agree, each party then makes whatever concessions are appropriate (i.e. terms and conditions of lesser importance); thereby, the parties involved can then concentrate on what are, for both sides, the most important differences. And do so with mutual respect and with goodwill. Goldratt applies the "Rogerian Model" to countless situations in this book, suggesting that conflict resolution is the result of sustained effort and patience, not luck.

It is occasionally said of an especially well-written business book that "it reads like a novel." What we have here IS a novel. Never before have executives had more to read and less time for reading. One of this book's most appealing qualities is that it is so easy to read. (The challenge is to make effective applications of TOC in an increasingly more competitive marketplace.) Goldratt is an authority on the business subjects he discusses as well as an excellent teller of tales. That's a rare combination.

For whom will this book have greatest value? Obviously, decision-makers who now have one or more of the following needs: to set or re-set the direction of their organization; to formulate appropriate marketing and sales strategies; to improve production, logistics, and distribution; to launch or improve project management initiatives; and/or to strengthen the skills of line managers.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to read Goldratt's other books, The Goal and Critical Chain; also, to check out David Maister's Practice What You Preach and David Whyte's The Heart Aroused. With all due respect to the core concepts Goldratt examines in this volume, they are worthless unless and until embraced by everyone involved. Master and Whyte can help managers to achieve that "buy in."

This book, in novel form, is a description of the "Thinking Process" of Theory of Constraints. This Thinking Process is really a bookkeeping process to provide rigor in rational thought. The story line is a bit weak, but as others have observed, it makes reading the dry processes fun. Once you have read this book, and are convinced that moving from a current reality [tree] to a future reality [tree] with the clouds removed is going to require the construction of a transition plan [tree], but you need some help, read "Thinking for a Change", by Lisa J. Scheinkopf - ISBN: 1574441019

I bought based in some good reviews at Amazon.com but is worthless, the author doesn't give new ideas but a compilation of Goldratt books. It seems more like an unorganized class notebook than a good worth reading.

Although Eli Goldratt's Theory of Constraints saw its initial applications in manufacturing, it now finds application in many other domains ---service industries, project management, general problem solving. It enhances communication and often clarifies the logic of daily life. Many practitioners first learn of it through word of mouth, but up to now, the limited literature has constrained its more rapid dissemination. Tom McMullen succeeds in elevating that constraint by providing us with a compact, readable introduction that does more than titillate---it provides both a solid body of knowledge and pearls based on experience. For those just discovering The Goal, this book should be the next step in their Odyssey. For inveterate TOC preachers, this could be a hymnal. For everyone in between, it's a fun read and an even better gift. Give to to your boss to take on his next business trip.

Tom McMullen's book fills an important, previously vacant niche in the body of knowledge on constraint theory. It's an excellent broad-brush picture of the systemic spread and implications of constraint theory. Nobody else has quite captured the potential scope of constraint theory as a management system in any other books that I've read. Most of the other works in the public body of knowledge are specialized or tightly focused. Tom ties the disparate facets of constraint theory together. It's the first time I know of that anybody's ever publicly characterized TOC as a "management system," but the shoe fits. An excellent foundation for further exploration.