BOMBARDIER TAPS PRATT ALUMNUS
Danny Di Perna appointed president of transportation unit, which is expected to contribute half to group’s sales target
BOMBARDIER Inc replaced the head of its troubled train unit after a series of missteps on key contracts. Danny Di Perna, a former Pratt & Whitney executive who led Bombardier’s aerostructures and engineering business, was appointed president of the transportation unit, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
He succeeds Laurent Troger, who is stepping down after 15 years with the company. The changes take effect immediately.
North America’s biggest maker of rail equipment is working to overcome a string of stumbles on high-profile projects in France, Switzerland and cities such as Toronto and New York.
Montreal-based Bombardier is counting on rail, its largest business, to contribute half of the US$20 billion (RM81.35 billion) in sales the company is targeting for 2020.
The move came as a surprise to some observers. “There were no apparent signs of a pending change, and Di Perna was appointed to his prior role as president of aerostructures in November,’’ Cam Doerksen, a National Bank Financial analyst, said in a note to clients.
Di Perna becomes the third person to run the rail business since December 2015. He was a 24-year veteran of United Technologies Corp where he was an executive at its Pratt & Whitney engine division. He spent a short time at General Electric Co before joining Bombardier last year. Bombardier chief executive officer Alain Bellemare is also a Pratt alumnus.
In November, Bombardier replaced the head of its North American rail unit with a former chief executive of New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).
While Bombardier’s earnings from rail have been increasing in recent years, the company also garnered attention for delays and production-related issues.
Last month, Switzerland’s federal railway took the Canadian manufacturer to task for delivering new train sets that fell short of standards, causing service interruptions and delays. New York’s MTA pulled dozens of Bombardier subway cars out of service because of reliability problems.
In December, Canada’s Via Rail selected Germany’s Siemens AG instead of Bombardier for a C$969 million (RM2.95 billion) order of locomotives and passenger cars.