Eliyahu M. Goldratt

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Eliyahu M. Goldratt

Born August 15, 1948(1948-08-15)
Israel
Nationality Israeli
Fields Theory of Constraints
Operations Research
Organizational Psychology
Management Science
Education
Known for Theory of Constraints
Cause and Effect thinking
Slayer of Paradigms

Eliyahu Moshe Goldratt (1948 - ) is an Israeli physicist who became a business management guru[1], [2]. He is the originator of the Optimized Production Technology, the Theory of Constraints (TOC), the Thinking Processes, Drum-Buffer-Rope, Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) and other TOC derived tools. Goldratt applies the essence of the scientific method[3],[4] to solve problems of people and organizations.

He has authored several business novels and non-fiction works, mainly on the Theory of Constraints.

Contents

Life

Born in Israel into a rabbinic family Goldratt went on to become physicist. He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from Tel Aviv University and his Masters of Science, and Doctorate of Philosophy from Bar-Ilan University.

Eli Goldratt produced some patents during this period[citation needed].

Work

Creative Output Years

After some experience helping Israeli manufacturers Goldratt left the academic world to join a company called Creative Output. The company developed and sold a software package, the Optimized Production Technology (OPT). OPT was billed as the first software to provide finite capacity scheduling for production environments. This software and the principles behind it were analyzed by a number of major publications[5]

Goldratt was actively involved in many controversies such as Cost Accounting x Throughput Accounting[6] and culminated in the publication of A Town Without Walls[7].

Within the company Goldratt noticed elements that made him uncomfortable[8] several software implementations did not come close to their estimated potential. After some work Goldratt discovered that the habits, and assumptions (paradigms) of employees and managers prior to using the software were still prominent and negatively influenced results after implementation[8].

His answer was the book The Goal that took 13 months to write. After completion the book was not well received by the company staff and by large publishers [8]. Finally, with help from Larry Gadd the owner of North River Press, the book was published and became a great success[9]. After a while Goldratt noticed that many implementations were conducted using the Book but not the software. This caused further stress in the company and Goldratt tried to capture the essence of how to implement the solution directly in what is now known as Drum-Buffer-Rope method. He published The Race to explain some of the concepts he was working on, and developed a course to teach people how to manage their production using a computer simulation game.

Goldratt tried to move the company down the path of "consulting", trying to help people rethink the way they did things, but Creative Output's declining revenues and Goldratt involvement with anything but the sales of OPT software convinced the shareholders to fire Goldratt (and afterward his closer collaborators).

Avraham Y. Goldratt Institute years

After leaving Creative Output circa 1985 Goldratt created the Avraham Y Goldratt Institute or AGI (named after his father) to promote the Theory of Constraints and help it be implemented worldwide.

During the time of the AGI Goldratt got deeply involved with the further development of TOC, mainly the Thinking Processes (and launched it publicly in 1991), Critical Chain Project Management and other applications.

The AGI had many success stories[10], but in the late 1990s Goldratt noticed the rate of TOC adoption was nowhere close to what he aspired to, and decided to put all knowledge developed in the AGI into the public domain. This was not accepted by the other partners and so Goldratt left the institute to create an organization that would achieve his ambitions using lessons learned from his experiences.

Goldratt Group Years

From the beginning of the 2000s Goldratt created the self-funded Goldratt Group and launched the Viable Vision initiative.

He continues the development of TOC both in the Goldratt Group and in active support for other developments like TOC for Education[11], TOC in Healthcare, TOC for the Individual (in the continuity of the Odyssey program and the publishing of The Choice).

Writings

Known for his direct style and perfectionism Goldratt produced many works. Some of the more noteworthy are:

  • The Goal (1984) introduces TOC process for improving organizations and briefly TOC's accounting aspects; it is considered an important work on the topic of focused performance improvement
  • The Choice (2008) Talks about Goldratt's thought provoking approach, this time through a conversation with his daughter Efrat, as he explains to her his fundamental system of beliefs

Bibliography

Business Novels

Non Fiction Books

  • Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Robert E. Fox. The Race. (1986) ISBN 0-88427-062-9
  • Eliyahu M. Goldratt. Essays on the Theory of Constraints. (1987) ISBN 0-88427-159-5
  • Eliyahu M. Goldratt. What is this Thing Called Theory of Constraints. (1990) ISBN 0-88427-166-8
  • Eliyahu M. Goldratt. The Haystack Syndrome: Sifting Information Out of the Data Ocean. (1991) ISBN 0-88427-184-6
  • Eliyahu M. Goldratt. Production the TOC Way (Revised Edition). (2003) ISBN 0-88427-175-7

Other Media Publications

  • Eliyahu M. Goldratt. TOC - Self Learning Program. 8 Video Sessions: Operations; Finance and Measurements; Project Management; Distribution; Marketing; Sales and Buy-In; Strategy and tactics (2002)
  • Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Rami Goldratt. TOC Insights". 4 Self learning computer software: Operations; Finance and Measurements; Project Management; Distribution (2003)
  • Eliyahu M. Goldratt. Beyond The Goal. Audiobook (2005) ISBN 1-59659-023-8

External links

References

  1. ^ McClenahen, John S.: Manufacturing's Influential Thinkers & Doers [1] Retrieved on: October 24th, 2008
  2. ^ The Economist. 1995. Tales out of business school. January 21, 334(7898), 63
  3. ^ Goldratt, Eliyahu M., The Choice
  4. ^ Goldratt, Eliyahu M. What is this Thing Called Theory of Constraints. (1990)
  5. ^ G. Bylinsky. An Efficiency guru with a brown box. Fortune; 120 (September 1983)
  6. ^ Goldratt, E. M.; Cost accounting is enemy number one of productivity. International Conference Proceedings, American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) (October 1983).
  7. ^ Goldratt, Eliyahu M. & Plossl, George; A Town Without Walls. Whitepaper, distributed during APICS 1984 International Conference in Las Vegas/USA
  8. ^ a b c Goldratt, Eliyahu M.; My Saga to Improve Production. For instance, in the second edition of The Goal
  9. ^ Laurence Gadd. Preface to The Choice
  10. ^ AGI- Success Stories [2] Retrieved on: October 25th, 2008
  11. ^ TOC for Education site [3]
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