Winners 2021

As a graduate buyer who took up her position at Bentley in 2019, Lauren is still early in her automotive career but there’s already plenty of evidence that she has what it takes to be a star in the industry. Her role within purchasing is to manage a portfolio of components and suppliers to the value of €12 million a year, with a remit to cut costs without reducing quality as well as general supplier management. She agreed with her manager to achieve a 1% cost reduction across her portfolio but she developed a plan to increase that to three 3%, according to her nominator, Thomas Donachie, Bentley’s commodity manager for metals and powertrain. “The roadmap by which she has achieved this is just as impressive as the result,” he wrote. Lauren created a database of every single part she is responsible for: the material grade, the technology, the price, the supplier, the cost drivers and the competition. In doing so she gained much more understanding of the materials and processes, allowing her to look for savings and reduce the number of suppliers. She also volunteered to be the team champion of a new ordering system, enrolling herself onto the training modules to become a ‘super user’, and training others in the system.