The Goal: a process of Ongoing Improvement

DW: So why didn’t you write another book for service organizations?
EG: As you know, we use the term service organization for a very broad
spectrum of totally different types of organizations. Organizations that are
different from each other no less than they are different from manufacturing.
You are not talking about another book, you are talking more of a library.
DW: Can you give me an example of a TOC implementation in a service
industry? Any type of service industry?
EG: Let’s start with a company that does not design or manufacture anything,
and therefore is called a service organization. Still they deal with physical
products; something that you can touch. An office supply company.
DW: A distributor of office supply products?
EG: Correct. But before you go and interview them, let me stress one point.
All the TOC detailed procedures for the logistical aspects of distribution had
long been developed and tested in many companies. But this particular
company still had to use heavily the thinking processes to properly develop
the detailed procedures needed to properly position itself in the market.

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Interview with Patrick Hoefsmit
, Office
Supply
Former managing director, TIM Voor Kantoor, 100-year-old
 
office
supply company in the Netherlands.
DW: What was your first exposure to 
The Goal
?
PH: I was one of the owners of a printing company. Pretty big company.
Couple of hundred people, 40 presses. I was taking a course from someone
who was explaining to me the difference between debit and credit—I’m a
technical engineer, so I needed some explanation. And I was such a pain in
the ass during the course that he gave me a book, 
The Goal
. He said, “This is
something for you because all the other books are nothing for you.” I read it
with great pleasure. I thought finally I have found someone who can explain
to me the meaning of business.