Alkco Lighting Company and its journey to Goldratt's Goal

In this case history, we detail how one company implemented Goldratt's concepts of drum, buffer, rope, together with some ideas about working with vendors to achieve a just-in-time inventory policy. The difficulties encountered in the implementation are described together with the end results of such a program: increased sales volume, profits and return on assets. It is important and noteworthy that these results were achieved without the extensive culture changes and training at the lowest levels of the organization usually associated with total quality management programs. It is concluded that even without the potential benefits from enlisting the lowest levels of the organization, Goldratt's concepts are sufficiently powerful to provide rapid benefits to an organization. There also is evidence that such gains may be tenuous, or short term, without all employees' longer-term commitment usually engendered by training and engaging them in problem solving and continuous improvement programs.