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the goal
as far as i can tell, there is no universal definition of the word "goal" in the toc literature. as a working definition, let's define "goal" as the object/aim of an action.
"What is the real goal? Nobody here has even asked anything that basic. "
The Goal, ch. 5
productivity
productivity is anything that moves the system closer to its goal.
"Every action that brings a company closer to its goal is productive. Every action that does not bring a company closer to its goal is not productive."
The Goal, ch. 4
throughput accounting
"Throughput is the rate at which the system generates money through sales."
The Goal, ch. 8
dependent events & statistical fluctuations
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vanity metrics
"So what?"
The Goal, ch. 25
the utilization of a non-bottleneck is determined by some other constraint in the system, not its own potential. abstracting the principle, activity is not progress. e.g., how often have you seen metrics such as more sales calls, website visitors, software features, employees kept busy, more projects started, or in other words, thinking that local optimization improves the system as a whole, but it does not!! observe the following: a system with three stages A, B and C, where the capacities are A = 100, B = 60 and C=90. the whole system can complete only 60 units. suppose you improve A from 100 to 120, well nothing changes (globally), the local metric improved but the system is deteriorating. in fact, throughput remains constant but inventory increases, then "so what?" the reason local optima is not global optima is because the parts are dependent, which usually is the case in any business. the principle is also easy to prove with convex analysis.
bottleneck
"What you have to do next, Alex, is distinguish between two types of resources in your plant. One type is what I call a bottleneck resource. The other is, very simply, a non-bottleneck resource."
The Goal, ch. 18
inherent simplicity
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circular logic
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