Quantum Lean: Taking Lean Systems to the Next Level

by Sean Fields, Michael Sanders PhD

This unique guide details a revolutionary approach to lean systems. Whereas traditional lean techniques suffer from less-than-inspiring results, Quantum Lean (QL) rethinks this subject and provides an overdue remedy. The key to this breakthrough is that QL approaches lean systems from an entirely different perspective than conventional methods. Instead of focusing on resource utilization, QL centers on achieving efficiency from the standpoint of a company’s product. The benefits from this simple departure are vast and wide-ranging. In terms of speed, effectiveness, and sustainability, QL offers a superior process for transforming an enterprise and gives practitioners a way to avoid the shortcomings that are commonplace in conventional lean.

In addition to being geared toward lean practitioners and consultants, the book is also useful for the C-suite, managers, supervisors, technical staff, and rank-and-file employees. It is intended for those who work in all economic sectors, including services, manufacturing, and government.

Key

• Provides easy-to-understand QL analysis techniques that are much simpler than standard lean methods and offer uncomplicated rules of thumb for determining priorities and improvement targets
• Details a win/win/win scenario for customers, employees, and shareholders that focuses on a company’s product, avoids conflicting objectives, and enables every stakeholder to benefit
• Identifies and eliminates previously overlooked waste by analyzing operations from a QL standpoint
• Shows how to gain greater buy in and sustainability for lean initiatives by avoiding employee defensiveness and creating a genuine problem-solving mindset throughout an organization.
• Removes the steep learning curve often associated with conventional techniques and promotes rapid implementation from analysis to results
• WAV features an overall equipment effectiveness data collection form, a time study data collection sheet, and a standard work priority method, among other valuable documents—available from the Web Added Value Download Resource Center at www.jrosspub.com

328 pages, Paperback

Published September 29, 2020

About the author

With over 30 years of experience in a wide variety of industries including oil field equipment manufacturing, food processing, and job shops, Sean Fields is a seasoned industry professional who has worked in all phases of business including the shop floor, quality, safety, and engineering. Over the years, he found himself in a great deal of situations where he was expected to implement lean approaches in environments where conventional lean methods were either impractical or simply didn’t work. However, by returning to the fundamentals that Henry Ford first established, Fields found that lean could be sustainably applied in practically any setting. Since then, with multiple implementations in the most challenging environments, Sean Fields wants to share his experiences, ideas, and approaches so that you too can build on the foundations that Henry Ford laid.

In addition to being an active lean practitioner, Sean Fields is a network member of the non-profit organization BeehiveFund who assists companies with production scheduling, inventory control, and developing quality management systems (ISO 9000, AS9100, and API Q1). He is a columnist for the Lubbock Avalanche Journal, a licensed professional engineer in the state of Texas, a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, and a certified QMS auditor. He resides in Lubbock, TX with his wife and has two adult daughters. For further information, please refer to the LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sean-fiel....

Reviews

[Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

As cliche as it might sound, Sean Fields and Michael Sanders are onto something with their new book, Quantum Lean: Taking Lean Systems to the Next Level. The duo avoid overtly esoteric or overly holistic-sounding linguistics and terminology when articulating the Lean System ideology, instead going for a decidedly secularist and more polished approach. More and more companies are starting to adopt principles reminiscent of Eastern spiritual philosophy, be it conceptual mediums a la The Law of Attraction to the integration of Falun Gong precepts. The concept of the Lean System is unique in that it draws inspiration from simply common sense, the kind of things one would almost be embarrassed as an educated professional not to think of or organize spontaneously. Lean Systems Inc.’s website summarizes the process best, ‘Unlike benchmarking Lean does NOT dictate a result, it obsesses over the process’. In short, utilizing a successful Lean strategy many can attest will lead to a smoother, sweeter journey to the destination - perhaps in the process affecting the latter in such a way that’s unique to any other desirable outcome.

With Quantum Lean: Taking Lean Systems to the Next Level, Fields and Sanders brilliantly break down the conceptual analysis into four consecutive categories. Part of their ability to communicate potentially ambiguous ideology is expertly summarized in the fourth part of the book, collectively titled ‘Product Path Diagram’. A subcategory of said chapter titled ‘Key Points’ expertly quotes da Vinci’s Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. In bell-clear, concise language, Fields and Sanders highlight the so-called ‘twelve specific tools’ of traditionalist Lean System models. But they go a step further by providing detailed examples of how to apply said tools in work contexts ranging from blue-collar nine-to-five jobs to white-collar, highly competitive positions. In providing suitable, real world analogies that feel authentic, Fields and Sanders make their book stand out in a field of often contrived, somewhat superficially esoteric workplace psychology guides. There’s an interest on the part of Fields and Sanders, themselves professionally involved in high-ranking echelons of industry, to buck the flaws of the corporate psychology articulation model and successfully introduce ideas and approaches that demonstrably guarantee a successful mindset for business. The title of the book is the capstone on the duo’s approach, applying an almost scientific literacy to the whole affair which should win over even the most jaded, sardonic boss at a loss for fluid business functionality.

It’s refreshing to see the continued integration of spiritualistic practices in the corporate workplace. The insertion of said practices in a responsible, practical manner is the key to continuing the intellectual and professional evolution of a secular society. The corporate psychology model is continuing to be used across a wide margin of companies, and with examples as relevant and well-put as Fields and Sanders’ it should continue to appeal to a large demographic of those industry leaders. Grade: A-