This book has very little new material from previous TOC books. It doesn't lead the reader as well as The Goal or It's Not Luck. In short it is a "Rah-Rah" book telling the reader how great TOC is without giving much detail and in the context of a novel that doesn't create a great amount of character sympathy. I really don't understand how a man as brilliant as Goldratt could have written this. Get The Goal, It's Not Luck, and the appropriate textbook(s) to implement TOC in your business.

I'm a student at Tec de Monterrey, in Mexico City. I've been assigned to read The Goal, it wasn't luck and this necessary but not suficient. I have to say that when i read the goald and it's second part i really loved the book. I was introduced to this concepts like DBR and inventory management. While i was reading necessary... i thought, this is by far the worst book written by this author (also read the race).

As a novel there's nothing exciting about it, is not that the other's had me in the edge of my chair, but at least there u could feel the threat was bigger, closing the factory and selling three of them.

And here trying to use TOC and DBD in the technology environment just doesn't work. U could see where the book was going to end, probably cause we are living in that time where u have to make the future.

This book is a journey of about a year and a quarter into the ERP market through the eyes of a hypothetical company BGSoft and its implementation partner KPI Solutions. Scott the CEO of BGSoft is a visionary who delivers business results for his clients through his ERP software. Lenny the head of Development, Gail his marketing chief and Maggie of KPI are the other key players in this novel.

Like any other technology company BGSoft faces the uphill task of growing 40 % every year if it has to keep the analysts happy and retain its stock price. It is a key player in the ERP market and its customers are primarily Fortune 1000 companies who can afford the investments and fuel the growth that BGSoft is aiming at. Suddenly Scott realizes that most of the big companies have already adopted ERP and their next best bet is to look for mid size companies. If there are no more deer left in the forest then one has to go after the rabbits. Hunting for rabbits needs the same effort and results in lesser meat per win. Can BGSoff continue to grow at the same rate?

Now there is an unusual call from Craig, CEO of Pierco one of BGSoft's largest customers. Thanks to a new Director, his Board has asked him to justify the investment that he has made in ERP. Call it by whatever name or any flavor of the latest technology jargon, the Board wants to know the impact on two important measures - top line and bottom line. The story now takes a very interesting turn, turning away from the routine issues of features, schedules, budgets, bugs, staffing and project management that are characteristic of any ERP company. The primary issue then becomes delivering true business value that customers can get from IT solutions rather than implementing software from leading vendors on fancy technologies.

Once again, it is worthwhile to mention - Top line and Bottom line - what comes in from the customers and what is retained for the shareholders. Get this right or get out of here is the message for all CEOs. BGSoft now sees a paradigm shift - they need to sell value and not just software.

ERP implementations are typically seen as automating data flow across different functions in an organization. True, it enables to break walls within but sadly the rules of the game continue to remain unchanged, defeating the purpose of better information flow. Technology is necessary, but not sufficient is the core theme of this book.

In the process of helping Craig to find justification for his investment in BGSoft' ERP, we get a deep inside view of Pierco's operations. Excess inventory, production bottlenecks and plenty of infighting between functions who are expected to work towards common goals. Performance measures continue to aim at locally optimal solutions ignoring the final impact on customer service.

Scott is quick to introduce the concepts of TOC- Drum-Buffer Rope method and Buffer management in Pierco. This releases forty percent capacity but causes an unexpected problem- plenty of inventory. TOC concept is then extended to distribution and soon across the entire operations of Pierco. Inventory is kept close to the plant and shipments to warehouses are based on replenishment of actual sales. The entire process shifts from "Push" to "Pull". The results are dramatic. Craig is celebrating!

Craig calls on Scott and Maggie with a proposal to extend the solution to all his vendors and clients. Internet technologies would help. He is keen to focus on his business and not worry about software, hardware, upgrades and the hassles of the IT function. If KPI could help him, he is willing to part with half a percent of his revenues for the services to begin with and then it would jump to one percent a year.

Focus on results for the business, and keep the software simple. Do not allow the tendency of adding feature after feature to complicate the ERP. Extend the solution across the entire supply chain to service the end customer as one logical entity. The top line and bottom line would head north, is a very clear message from this book.

If you're wondering why you didn't get a powerful return on your new ERP system, read this. Just as Eli's first book, The Goal, explained why manufacturing (in the '80's) was doing so poorly, Eli and his co-authors provide an equally lucid look at why ERP systems so seldom produce the return the vendors promise. Written in a story form, it identifies the problems faced by ERP system companies, systems integrators, and of course, their clients, the manufacturing companies.

There are also glimpses of what makes advanced planning and scheduling important, an interesting way of developing a pull-based supply chain, and a VERY interesting perspective on getting supply chain partners to collaborate. The book is not meant as an exhastive reference, but only a means to get you to think. It succeeds.

I would have given it 5 stars, but there are too many typos, and I think they could have gone more deeply into many of the subjects they brushed over. It would have been more satisfying to have a little more depth at the expense of breadth.

Book Review: This is Eli Goldratt's clearest story of theTheory of Constraints Holistic Approach-integrating the wholesupply chain.

The heroes in this novel are from the softwareservice industry who must provide software to connect the variedcompany components. The heroes struggle as they try to meet client demands and at the same time provide real value to the marketplace.

In the first chapter, Eli tells why the stock market is so fickled, exposes the results of two breakthrough ideas, outlines the key role of the CEO and clarifies the confusion between pessimism and paranoia. And the chapters accelerate from there.

After the third chapter, you are drawn into the story and forget this really is a systems management textbook. Read carefully to discover: Many erroneous assumptions made by management (e.g. Measuring efficiency is good) Discover the problems with Finite Capacity Planning (and the solution) The full solution for Distribution and Replenishment Systems How to synchronize engineering with the rest of the firm (yes, it is possible) The terrible effect of Transfer Pricing (nothing is sold until the final customer pays) The devastating results of Min-Max inventory policy The best use of Dollar-Days How to find the next constraint (the one that will hit you in the face as soon as you fix the current one) Each chapter builds on the understanding of the previous chapters to help the reader see the possible impact of applying TOC to the whole enterprise. Towards the end of Necessary But Not Sufficient you will find you want to go back and re-read The Goal, and Its Not Luck so you can better understand the TOC applications. That is good, but finish Necessary But Not Sufficient first. The last three chapters outline an "UnRefusable Offer" from the software providers to industry. While Eli intended this offer to be a prediction of the future, it is rapidly happening-its probably in place by the time you read this book review.