THEORY OF CONSTRAINTS

did pinpoint the core problem. By explaining the entire processof constructing the Effect-Cause-Effect logical "tree" we have avery powerful way to persuade others.Let's examine an example which uses this technique of thinking—inChapter 4 of The Goal. Alex has just told Jonah that therobots which were installed in two departments of the planthave increased productivity by 36%. The assumption that Jonahmakes is that Alex, being the plant manager, is not doing somethingwhich is an artificial, local optimum. Thus the hypothesisis, that when Alex uses the word productivity, he knows what heis talking about. Therefore Jonah's next question is not directedto the specific tasks of the robots, their manufacturer or eventheir purchase price, but rather towards the verification of whatshould be a straightforward resulting effect. "So your companyis making 36% more money from your plant, just from installingsome robots?"Not surprisingly, the answer is no. Alex, captured in his worldof local optimums, thinks that Jonah is the one who is remotefrom reality. Jonah now has to develop and present an Effect-Cause-Effect tree using Alex's terminology, in order to showAlex why the hypothesis ("Alex knows what he is talkingabout") must be wrong.If the plant had actually increased productivity this wouldmean that either the plant increased Throughput or reducedInventory or reduced Operating Expense. There aren't anyother possibilities. Thus Jonah's next question is, "was youiplant able to ship even one more product a day as a result ofwhat happened in the department where you installed the robots?"Notice that Jonah is very careful to make sure he usesAlex's—a plant manager's—terminology. Basically Jonah wasasking whether or not Throughput was increased. The nextquestion was "did you fire anybody?" In other words, was Operating Expense reduced. And the third question was "did yourinventories go down?"As expected, Alex, at this stage is under the impression thatJonah is jumping from one subject to another. But when Jonahties it all together, Alex cannot escape the validity of the conclu35