Solar energy contractors face mounting pressure to deliver results to their customers that are sustainable, efficient, cost-effective and timely. Coaching solar teams on Lean Fundamentals provides an effective framework to meet these challenges head-on.
Credit: Barton Malow
What are Lean Fundamentals? They are “the core lean principles that every team member should know.” The purpose of Lean Fundamentals is to create a lean culture that is laser focused on adding more value to the customer, eliminate waste and create a smooth flow within every process.
Lean Fundamentals can support contractors by encouraging them to see their work differently, thereby providing a mindset to help them see value from waste in all work that is being done. When incorporating such principles with a project team, it’s important to start with the basics to make sure that everyone has an understanding and is speaking the same “lean language.”
After the foundation is established, focus can then shift to more specific lean tools that provide more value to the project team. Two of these more specific Lean tools include value stream mapping and “takt.” Here’s a closer look at these tools and how they can drive project success.
Value stream mapping: A customer-focused guide to continuous improvement
A value stream is the flow of information and processes that deliver what a customer requests and/or is willing to pay for. A value stream map (VSM) makes this flow visible and simultaneously serves as the path forward for continuous improvement. In the case of solar, mapping is done through a series of workshops that support visualizing the solar energy project workflow and areas of improvement opportunity. In those workshops, the team can identify waste present within the value stream, such as defects (remediation of piles), overproduction (varying speeds of production) and inventory (varying levels of inventory between processes).
Importantly, the VSM process emphasizes that simply adding a step or changing one aspect of a process — without fully understanding the process in its entirety — doesn’t always lead to the best possible improvements. By mapping out the full value stream, the team can examine the process holistically, step by step, to identify where the most impactful improvements can be made. This approach helps prevent reactive or isolated changes that may unintentionally introduce new waste or inefficiencies. With a complete view of the process, the team can better anticipate how a change will affect the overall workflow and make smarter, more aligned decisions.
Seeing the waste from value better allows the project team to challenge how the work is being done, develop improvements, and work toward achieving broader goals such as reduced lead times, smoother workflow and improved bottleneck processes.
Takt: The “heartbeat” that paces construction
Takt is the pace at which a task or process must be completed to meet customer expectations. In other words, it is the “heartbeat” or “rhythm” that contractors must build to! It is a mathematical calculation considering “how much do we need to build?” (customer demand) and “how fast do we need to build?” (available time). This provides great insights, if understood and used, on how to balance production and demand. With this balance comes great benefits such as optimal resource planning, greater schedule certainty, and a satisfied customer.
In the case of solar project teams, takt may be used to support project success.
Lean fundamentals in action
Barton Malow is a 101-year-old North American construction enterprise that builds in many markets, including energy. As part of a goal to become safer and more efficient on its renewable energy projects, Barton Malow’s renewable and lean teams began working together in late 2023 to establish baseline and chart further improvements. This marked a time when Barton Malow had just broken ground on its first large-scale solar project with more confirmed projects in the pipeline.
By using value stream mapping and identifying improvements from two previous, smaller-scale solar projects, the project team was able to realize a 50% reduction in total lead time on this new, larger project’s self-perform activities. This meant less time was required to complete self-perform installation processes from beginning to end, supporting both productivity increases and meeting the schedule. This was a huge milestone that also helped the client solve its need for an accelerated project timeline.
At Barton Malow, takt was used to improve and drive optimal resource planning (labor, equipment, etc.). In one case, takt highlighted the opportunity to balance production and reduce planned pile driving crews from 13 to 9.
Through this partnership between the renewable and lean teams, Barton Malow has realized significant benefits of adopting and implementing lean tools and behaviors. These benefits include improved flow, reduced lead time and overall schedule and cost improvements. The team has adopted a lean culture — working to provide more value to clients, eliminate waste and improve workflow. The team didn’t just fix problems; it found ways to optimize performance across projects, setting the foundation for even greater results moving forward.
This all represents an example of Barton Malow’s broader commitment to improving productivity and eliminating waste, and all contractors can benefit from implementing such tools and philosophies within their organizations. By committing to building a strong lean culture, driving meaningful improvements across offices and jobsites, and continuously finding new ways to deliver greater value to customers, the result is a faster, safer and more profitable project, which also leads to a more satisfied customer.
