The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, is the story of a man who finds himself at his crossroads and the direction he decides to take. The story is about a plant manager named Alex Rogo. We find Alex six months into his first plant manager position at UniCo, in the UniWare division. The factory is located in Bearington Massachusetts, where Alex grew up. UniCo is definitely a manufacturing plant, I don't know what they produce yet. The story begins when Alex's supervisor, Bill Peach, enters the plant and almost turns everything upside down. After Alex puts out all the fires Bill had started, they sit in Alex's office and talk. Bill tells Alex that production has declined in the six months Alex has been at the helm, and an angry customer, Bucky Burnside, has an order fifty-six days late and Alex has to ship that order before anything else. Bill also says that if the plant does not recover in the next three months, he will recommend closing the plant. A few days later, Alex hears the same thing during a company meeting and understands why Bill was angry. After the meeting Alex picks up something and comes across a cigar he got from a chance meeting with an old physicist he knew since college. While waiting between flights at O'Hare, Alex walked into an airport and found himself sitting next to the physicist named Jonah who worked on mathematical models while he was an undergraduate engineering student. Alex and Jonah start talking and Alex says he's going to speak at a seminar. His topic is "Robotics: A 1980s Solution to America's Productivity Crisis." Alex tells Jonah that his plant has more robots than any other plant in the division. Jonah is not very impressed. Jonah asks how much productivity has improved with the use of robots. Alex responds that there is a 36% improvement in one area. Jonah then asks if the plant makes 36% more money because it uses robots? Well, obviously no is the answer. Just one department produces 36% more. Jonah continues the conversation and admits that he has studied the manufacturing processes.