“The Goal” Individual Assignment Due: Thursday, October 4 As you are reading the book, please answer the following questions:   What does Jonah say is the goal of a manufacturing organization? Do you agree? Does it apply to all organizations?     What are the definitions of throughput, inventory and operational expense given in The Goal? What advantages and disadvantages are there in using these definitions instead of more traditional definitions (i

“The Goal” Individual Assignment

Due: Thursday, October 4

As you are reading the book, please answer the following questions:

1. What does Jonah say is the goal of a manufacturing organization? Do you agree? Does it apply to all organizations?

2. What are the definitions of throughput, inventory and operational expense given in The Goal? What advantages and disadvantages are there in using these definitions instead of more traditional definitions (i.e., those you would have provided before reading the book)?
3.  Why does their cost measurement system indicate that their cost per part goes up when they cut their batch sizes by half at the non-bottleneck operations (see Chapter 29)? When, if ever, might such a cost measurement system be useful? Explain.

4.  Explain in detail why Alex put Herbie at the head of the line.
5. What are the production scheduling principles recommended by The Goal? In other words, what are guidelines prescribed by the book for managing product flows in production systems? (You should be able to list at least five such principles.) Choose one of these principles and elaborate on its meaning by writing a paragraph describing the meaning and importance of the concept to someone who has not read the book and is unfamiliar with production environments. Note that the five steps of ongoing improvement (listed on pg. 301) are not production scheduling principles.
6. Describe your impressions of the book. In your opinion, what was the most important lesson?

7.  How do the lessons of The Goal apply to an organization you have worked at or observed? The above is an individual assignment. It should not take more than four double-spaced page(s) to answer the questions.