The Goal
Chapters 9, 10, 11 and 12
CLAVO, Jaira Micah P. | BSA52
What title would you give these
chapters?
Write a 10-sentence summary of
the chapter. Use specific
character names, and specific
events that occurred.
Dependent Events and Statistical Fluctuations
One morning in the house of Alex’s mom after talking to
Jonah last night, he called her secretary Fran to tell that
he is fine just in case everyone in the office is finding him.
The secretary also told him that the head of the company
named Grandby will drop by to the plant for the photo
shoot with the robots in the plant. Returning back to the
office, he bump into Lou’s office first to talk about
something that Jonah has mentioned him. Alex find out
through Lou’s report that ever since the robot came into
the line, there is no increase in sales but only made an
overdue shipments. Next, he asked the person in charge
in the inventory named Stacey Potazenik about the work
in process that are passing through the robot areas. He
also calls the attention of Bob Donovan (Production
manager) to ask about the excess parts built by the robots
that are eventually being turn into increased inventories.
Alex discovers that the robots increased operating
expenses without reducing any costs like direct labor,
which was merely shifted to other parts of the plant. Since
inventory stayed the same and throughput did not
increase, the productivity of the plant declined because of
adding the robots. Rogo is beginning to understand theory
of constraint thinking and is trying to help his team see the
mistakes they have made.
Eventually, Alex and his team (Bob Donovan from
production, Lou from accounting and Stacey from
inventory control) reviewed the meaning of throughput,
inventory and operating expense until everyone was
satisfied. Lou, summarizes them as follows. "Throughput
is money coming in. Inventory is the money currently
inside the system. And operational expense is the money
we have to pay out to make throughput happen." Bob
remains skeptical that everything can be accounted for
with just three measurements. But Lou explained that
machines, tooling and the whole the building are all just
different forms of inventory. Their dilemma is how to
achieve their goal without decreasing efficiencies. They
call Jonah in search of answers but Jonah asked Alex to
speak and visit him New York.
 Now that Alex Rogo is on his way to New York, he is still
thinking of his wife and children because they are no
longer answering his calls since the time he left the house.
He flies up to New York to meet Jonah. The professor
explain in detail the things he needs to understand in
making his steps in achieving the goal. Jonah tells Alex to
forget first about the robot and stop chasing about
efficiencies. He assures Alex that all the problems can be
solved despite their looming deadline. He also told Alex
that it is important to know how to manage the capacity of
his plant and consider the balanced plant – the capacity of
each and every resource is balanced exactly with the
demand in market. Jonah added that "the closer you come
to a balanced plant, the closer you are to bankruptcy."
This means that the goal should not be focused on only
one measurement but to all three goals (increase sales,
decrease costs and lesser inventory) all at the same time.
Then he leaves Alex with another lingering question: what
are "dependent events" and "statistical fluctuations" and
what are these have to do with your plant? Both harmless
enough to Alex, who feels confident that both should work
themselves out farther on down the production line…

Alex on his way home, recalls his UniCo colleague and his
wife. His colleague get back home with empty rooms and
things in his house. His wife has taken everything
including their kids, dogs, furniture, and appliances. The
wife even had note written in lipstick on a bathroom mirror
saying “Goodbye, you bastard!” That kind of vision has
been running through his mind. When he arrive home, he
saw his wife sitting at the kitchen table and they talk. They
have been quarrelling about all the unanswered calls and
Alex’s lack of time with the family because he overspends
it for work. At this point, his marriage is at stake.
Eventually they compromise on something. Alex promised
to spend more time with the family at home and will try to
take those paper works at home.
3-5 unfamiliar or not very  leafing - turn over (the pages of a book or the
familiar words (add their papers in a pile), reading them quickly or casually.
definition, or ever a picture to  Inventories - a complete list of items such as
show what they are) property, goods in stock, or the contents of a
building.
 Surplus - an amount of something left over when
requirements have been met; an excess of
production or supply over demand.
 Counter-productive - having the opposite of the
desired effect.

Powerful quote from this chapter
and why you chose it
 banquet - an elaborate and formal evening meal
for many people, often followed by speeches.
“One of them, I remember as I'm driving, was whether we
had been able to sell any more products as a result of
having the robots. Another one was whether we had
reduced the number of people on the payroll. Then he had
wanted to know if inventories had gone down. Three basic
questions.”
- This scene makes it the highlight of the chapter
because finally Alex has already understand what
his professor, Jonah, is trying to tell him the last time
they talked. He already knows the root cause of
everything and he is ready to find out the trends.
“The big deal occurs when dependent events are in
combination with another phenomenon called ‘statistical
fluctuations”
- This words are crucial because we are also talking
about specific words “dependent events” and
“statistical fluctuations”. At first glance, a person will
think that these has something to do about
mathematics. Yes, it is. If we are going to substitute
these terms in the plant, the other process must take
first before another can begin. The subsequent
events will also follow depending on the output of
the preceding event. Statistic fluctuations, on the
other hand, pertaining to information vary from one
instance to the next. The information that cannot be
determined precisely ahead of time.
"Alex, if I simply told you what to do, ultimately you would
fail. You have to gain the understanding for yourself in
order to make the rules work,"
- Jonah to Alex
- This time, Alex is having a hard time in thinking about
the right thing to do in his plant. It is very crucial for
him because he need answers immediately but he
can’t get it from Jonah. I can relate this to life. I know
that not everything in life can be suddenly turn tables

Historical or current event
connection
Personal Comments/Insights
180 degrees. It takes time, it takes effort, it takes hard
work to achieve goals in life. It is never and will never
be easy.
 With the help of his professor, Jonah, Alex now
understands the events happening in his plant. And
now he learned the three measurements he has to
know to see if the plant is achieving its goal. And that
goal is to make money to increase profit and
simultaneously increasing return of investment and
increasing cash flows.
 Since Alex cannot do the work in his own, he has to
discuss this things to Bob, Lou and Stacey. It will be
better if their opinions and knowledge about the plant
consolidate because the information, most especially
the activities and the trends will help them monitor if
the plant is working effectively.
 Given the fact that Alex is having a hard time in fixing
the plant, he also encounters the same with his wife
Julie. Their marriage are at stake. They are always
quarrelling because Alex always spends his time in
the plant.
I am excited because things are getting into its place little
by little. Now that Alex is determined to push through with
the plant and fix it, more applications about Management
Accounting will be unfold. I am glad that everything we
encounter in the classroom is real and present even from
the time this book was written. I am excited to read the
rest of the chapters of this book. 