College of Engineering Department of Technology

Tech 149 Dr. Seth Bates

Advanced Manufacturing Systems

Study Guide for the supplemental text

The Goal, by Eliyahu Goldratt and Jeff Cox.
Questions to ask yourself:
1. Describe the scenario for the opening of this book, as presented in chapters 1 and 2.

2. Who are the principal players in this book, and why is each one important to the story?

3. What is the dilemma faced by our protagonist? Describe it simply but clearly.

4. What are the principle problems which have lead to the situation as it is presented here,
based on your knowledge of manufacturing technology?

5. Identify and define the three measures Goldratt recommends when analyzing a
manufacturing process.

6. What is the unit of measure used in all three measures and why is it the same?

7. When scheduling production in a manufacturing process where should you focus your
efforts and why.

8. In the story of the Boy Scout troop hike the main character in the book, Alex Rogo,
focuses attention on the boy named Herbie. Why?

9. Why did Alex Rogo pace the speed of the other boys on Herbie and not let them each
move at their own pace?

10. How did Alex Rogo improve the performance of the system (the speed of the Boy
Scout troop as a whole).

11. What was the impact of Alex Rogo’s decision to focus all efforts in his plant on
processing the late orders only and what did the plant do next to improve operations
after they caught up with the late orders?

12. A. What did Alex Rogo discover about the robots;

B. How did things get this way, and
C. What is there about the robot that led to this problem?

13. What are the issues or problems raised by the robot problem?

14. What are the lessons that Alex is learning from Jonah?

15. What is the Goal? (your answer should be very brief and very comprehensive)