Now is the right time for the business to come back stronger. We have introduced extensive new working measures to protect our colleagues, our families and our customers and we are confident, following the work of so many people, that being at Bentley will be as safe for our colleagues as being anywhere else."
Adrian Hallmark, Chairman and CEO, Bentley Motors
Before the restart, last week, colleagues received an insight into their new working patterns, operations and environment during socially distanced briefing and training sessions. They returned to a redesigned manufacturing facility that allows two-metre distance between workers, and one-way movement paths and traffic flows. Even the washrooms across site have been reconfigured to reduce the number of people being able to use them.
Running from Monday 11th May, the Bentayga and Mulsanne production lines will be joined by the return of the Continental GT and Flying Spur line next week.
On each line, production will be running at approximately 50 per cent for a number of weeks as the takt time of each car - the average start time from one manufacturing stage to the next - has doubled. In addition, each production cell now spreads over two stages rather than one, ensuring adequate distance between colleagues.
The remaining manufacturing workers, over 500, are anticipated to return by the middle of June based on current assumptions and government guidance. All colleagues, during the shutdown, or returning later, have been kept fully updated with the changes through a home-issued guide, video tutorial and a newly created Employee News app designed to ease any uncertainty that this challenging period prompts.
The key process changes behind the ‘Come Back Stronger’ employee programme impact all areas. Facemasks are now compulsory in all factory and office areas, while Bentley will maintain a work from home policy for those who are able to.
The robust measures will ensure Bentley staff stay as safe as possible at all times. Personal protection equipment – including facemasks, gloves, goggles - are provided as necessary, both to colleagues and in parallel donated to the local care sector, as well as health temperature checks for staff. There is also an enhanced cleaning routine and clear guidance to the workforce on limiting the risk of infection on areas such as meeting governance, site access and travel.
In relevant office areas and catering facilities where distancing is more challenging, plastic partitions - designed and manufactured by Bentley workers – now offer segregation between colleagues in addition to control measures limiting capacity, staggered times and distanced seating.
There are also new, stringent measures to control the population density on site at any one time with all entry and exit points reviewed and reconfigured to disperse the volume of people.
“We have a strong order bank, around eight months of customer orders to manufacture, established parts supply routes and patient customers who are looking to receive their extraordinary cars as soon as possible. We will ramp up in a controlled, measured way to ensure we manage this continued demand, and look ahead and in spite of this interruption continue on our journey to lead sustainable luxury mobility in the future.”
Bentley has announced that after reopening in China last month, it took more orders in five days than it did in the entire months of December, January or February. And with Monaco retailers reopening at the start of May, it took an entire week to process the long list of requests and orders from customers who had been waiting patiently throughout lockdown to buy a new Bentley. Similarly, orders seem to be bouncing back in the newly reopened US branches too.
Finally, on the day the UK went into lockdown, Bentley held 8,000 orders from customers around the world. Just 200 of those have since been cancelled. The factory will be very busy (albeit at 50% staff capacity to maintain social distancing), and everyone is thrilled to see that Bentley’s customers are almost unchanged in their spending habits.
bentleymotors.com
