The Challenge

Expanding upon themes explored in North River Press's bestselling business novel The Goal , this is the story of Larry Jones, a 30-year-old financial wizard. To become the next CEO of ConnYankee, the country's leading manufacturer of precision machined parts, Larry must dramatically improve the performance of the company's New England plant. Like the racehorses owned by ConnYankee's present CEO, Larry and the team he assembles are bred to winif they abandon obsolete American business practices. Prodded by Vickie Barlow, a Harvard MBA candidate, Larry institutes a series of innovative changes in the plant's production methods. Models demonstrating techniques of scheduling and inventory control and graphs charting the plant's progress help to illustrate Larry's attempts to harness the talents of labor and management through the use of synchronized manufacturing principles. Despite overly expository dialogue, stereotypical characters and unfortunate references to female protagonists as ``hookers'' and ``babes,'' business-minded readers will identify with Larry's efforts and gain valuable insight into manufacturing production processes. From the romance that develops between Larry and Vickie, to the references to Harvard and its environs, a collegiate atmosphere underscores this example of how American business can regain its predominance in the world marketplace. The authors are manufacturing specialists. (September)