Julie Rogo remains at her parents and Alex fights to get her back.

  Donovan, his
earnest help at the plant, coaches him on managing change.  Change starts with small
wins that show everyone the benefit of changing.

Chapters 21 – 30
Chapter 21
The team continues to work their constraints.  Rogo finds the NCX-10 idle.  An idle
constraint means the process is not working towards its goal.  Diving into the
problem, they find that parts upstream of the NCX-10 are delayed.  A constraint
should not be idle.

Chapters 21 – 23 identify the following methods to improve a constraint:

 A constraint should not be idle.

 A constraint should have enough feedstock to avoid being idle.
 Adding incremental capacity with different equipment, opens up the
constraint.
 Data drives constraint improvement.
 Tee up work ahead of the constraint.
 Staff the constraint with the best people.
 Modify products to minimize use of the constraint.
Chapter 22 – Constraint Tactics
Our heroes continue to focus on the constraints – they locate an old tool, a Zmegma,
that will unburden the heat treatment step.  Even small additions of capacity, which
might look silly to do, improve overall output if they are done at the constraining
process step.

Chapter 23 – Goldratt on Data

Focus on the constraint continues.  Ralph Nakamura, the plant data manager,
realizes he needs better data – and fights to get it. Rogo realizes that his 2nd shift
manager, Mike Haley, has been aggressive in keeping the constraint moving.  Other
changes in how the constraints are approached create more capacity – constraints
should be staffed by the best team members, and modifying processes to shorten
exposure at the constraint should be approved wherever possible.

Chapter 24
The plant’s focus on constraints through Chapters 21 – 23 leads to record shipments. 
This leads to a night of celebrating, wherein a drunken Rogo is driven home by
Stacey.  A sleeping Julie – who has surprised him by returning home, jumps to
conclusions.  Stacey calms down Julie.  The team then worries that their constraints
are wandering.

Chapter 25 – Stop Futile Work

Jonah returns to help the team understand their wandering bottlenecks.  By focusing
on the cadence and capacity of the constraints – the team has been mistakenly
releasing too many inventory requests.  This other inventory buildup is choking up
the plant with material.