Starting Point:
Earlier in his career Sebastian Benndorf was leading the (final) assembly at VW and Bentley. Today he is responsible for the planning department and therefore designing the new Dream Factory for future electric cars at Bentley, UK. The Dream Factory is a core part of Bentley’s company BEYOND100 strategy – the ground-breaking plan that will ensure Bentley is exclusively electric and end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030. It is one of the biggest changes in Bentley’s history and a holistic revolution after building petrol cars for more than 100 years.
Sebastian had an epiphany in a former project that shaped his leadership style and planning process for this new challenge. A necessary takt change for the production line, which often comes with volume changes or efficiency targets, was planned solely by the central department in isolation. There was no connection or integration of the people working directly in the line. But these people are the experts building the cars day by day. As a result, he experienced a huge resistance from the workers. The requested changes were not accepted. Furthermore, the changes were not reflecting the full truth out in production itself. A project without a happy ending.
