The Goal
Chapters 17, 18, 19 and 20
CLAVO, Jaira Micah P. | BSA52
What title would you give these
chapters?
Write a minimum of 10 sentences
summary of the chapter. Use
specific character names, and
specific events that occurred.
Finding Herbie
Monday morning and everything did not went well with his
kids because Alex is the one preparing for everything. He
even figured out that he will never make it all alone. In the
office, he received a memo telling about the promotion of
Smyth being the next division productivity manager. They
also have a task about delivering 100 subassemblies
today no more no less. Meanwhile in the plant they are
given a constraint of NCX-10 robot that can only handle 25
parts per batch. The machines are operated by human
(Dependent events). Parts arrive to the NCX-10 in
irregularly. The NCX-10 depends on the upstream
processing – so if that step is uneven, then so too will the
loading be of the NCX-10. The NCX-10 has statistical
fluctuations but the upstream processes are much more
variable. Alex anticipated the statistical fluctuations and
map the dependent events.
In this chapter Jonah introduces Alex to the concept of
bottlenecks and non-bottlenecks. Jonah defines these
terms as follows. "A bottleneck is any resource whose
capacity is equal to or less than the demand placed upon
it.”A non-bottleneck is any resource whose capacity is
greater than the demand placed on it." Jonah explains that
Alex should not try to balance capacity with demand, but
instead balance the flow of product through the plant.
Later, Alex and his team recognize the bottlenecks, the
areas where capacity doesn’t equal demand, like the slow
kid Herbie on the hike. With this discovery goes the ideas
related to reorganizing the plant like Alex did with the hike.
Production is a process and it cannot be moved around so
easily. Many processes rely on the previous one to be
able to complete the next. Alex would need more
machines, which takes more capital, and division is not
going to go for that. The team is beginning to trust their
boss and appears ready to act on his command. But Alex,
on the other hand, remains unsure what to do next.
 Jonah finally makes a visit to the plant. Jonah tells Alex
that a plant without bottlenecks would have enormous
excess capacity. Every plant should have bottlenecks.
Jonah said that what is needed is to increase the capacity
of the plant is more capacity at the bottlenecks. More
machines to do the bottleneck operations might help, but
how about making those run more effectively. Jonah tells
them that they have hidden capacity because some of
their thinking is incorrect. Some ways to increase capacity
at the bottlenecks are not to have any down time within
the bottlenecks, make sure they are only working on
quality products so not to waste time, and relieve the
workload by farming some work out to vendors. Jonah
wants to know how much it cost when the bottlenecks (X
and heat treat) machines are down. Lou says $32 per hour
for the X machine and $21 per hour for heat treat. Around
$1.6 million when the whole plant is down. And about 585
hours are available per month. After a calculation, Jonah
explains that when the bottlenecks are down for an hour,
the true cost is around $2,735, the cost of the entire
system. Every minute of downtime at a bottleneck
translates into thousands of dollars of loss throughput,
because without the parts from the bottleneck, you can’t
sell the product. Therefore, you cannot generate
throughput.

This time, Alex chose to prioritize the bottlenecks to work

on the overdue orders starting from the most overdue. The
non-overdue is the least of his concern. While this
production plan is in motion, Alex discovers that his wife
Julie had been staying with her parents. But when he tries
to convince her to come home, she insists that she
needed more time to herself. She also said that she still
needs to be away from everybody even to their kids.

3-5 unfamiliar or not very familiar 

semblance – the outward appearance or apparent
words (add their definition, or form of something, especially when the reality is
ever a picture to show what they different.
are)  Bottleneck – a narrow section of road or a junction
that impedes traffic flow.
 Flabbergasted – surprise (someone) greatly;
astonish.
 Indignantly – in a manner indicating anger or
annoyance at something perceived as unfair.
 Squawk – a loud, harsh, or discordant noise made
by a bird or a person.
Powerful quote from these “Instead of paying me, why don't you give the money to
chapter and why you chose it Pete so he can spring for a round of coffee or something
 for the people in his department—just a little way to say
thanks for the extra effort this afternoon."
- Chapter 17
- Alex to Bob
- This is the time where Bob owe Alex a 10bucks
because he loses the bet. Alex did not accept the 10
bucks but he refuse to. It’s a proof that what he have
learned from Jonah is true and it gave a success to
their goal for today. And it will give a success to the
company as a whole eventually. Watch out.

“No, bottlenecks are not necessarily bad—or good, they

are simply a reality.”
- Chapter 18
- Jonah
- In reality, there will always be bottlenecks and
constraints in business but it is not bad. We just have
to learn how to manage it. And if I were to relate it in
my life, yes, there will always be weakest part
(bottlenecks) but we have to manage it. Better if we
can make our weakness a strength.
"To increase the capacity of the plant is to increase the
capacity of only the bottlenecks."
- Chapter 19
- Jonah to the team
- This is so powerful to me because this is what I
exactly learned from my professor.
Historical or current event  Everything that he learned from their hike with
connection Davey and the rest of the kids, he eventually applied
it all in their plant. Now that he understands the two
terms, he anticipated the statistical fluctuations and
dependent events in their plant.
 From the past chapter, we know Herbie. He is the
representation of Alex as the bottleneck in the camp.
And now here in his plant. Alex and his team is now
finding their own Herbie.
 The team again needed the professor that’s why
they call him again. He discussed to them new
terminologies (bottlenecks and nonbottlenecks).
 After their conversation, Jonah decided to visit the
plant to actually see the machines and its process to
better understand where the bottlenecks are and
how to locate it.
Personal Comments/Insights Alex is learning a lot. He gained his better understanding of
the terms Jonah told him because he saw it in his plant.
Gladly, he know what and how to do. But I know that it does
not stop there because I know Jonah has something more
to tell. And I am excited to find out.