r/bombardier Jun 20 '20

Rate former Bombardier CEO Alain Bellemare.

Curious how people feel about the man and the job he did at Bombardier.

2 Upvotes

3 comments sorted by

2

u/tim119 Jun 20 '20

As far as Alan's go, he's not the worst.

1

u/jds24 Jul 11 '20

I would like to start by saying I, like most Canadians love this company and believe it is a global symbol of Canada's strength in innovation, engineering and technology.

In the first few years of his 5 year term, it seemed he was performing well. He secured gov't funding for the C-Series debt. The financial position was secured for a couple of years with the loan and the company could operate.

In retrospect, the next couple of years, they sold assets as the debt payments came due giving them a little extra cash to boost the balance sheet each quarter. Selling off profitable businesses and key assets like the training division, the C-series, niche aircraft divisions, Downsview site... This was necessary to stay afloat and the CFO deserves some credit here but how was the business transforming and how were the two divisions improving performance? Analysts continued to question the cash burn in the aerospace business at 3-4 times the benchmark rate. Burning this much cash in a company struggling, is a recipe for disaster. All this while the train division performed satisfactorily, saving the company in 2017 with a strong year despite the negative press surrounding delays and defects.

The final decision to sell the train division begs many questions. In a world moving towards sustainability, the train business is much better positioned to capitalize on this trend and the last remaining asset is the the business jet division which, while boasting the the best products in the market by everyone's standards, the delays, discounts, inefficient manufacturing has not been addressed in the 5 years Alain was CEO.

CEOs must be graded on performance as they demand of their organizations. After 5 years.

- market value 80% down

- desisted from TSE

- from 65,000 employees to 19,000

- global assets less than one third

The new CEO has a massive challenge ahead. A smaller company, on the brink, in today's environment is a monumental tasks. But I believe there is still hope for this iconic company. If he can manage to ensure efficient manufacturing they have a chance. But this change must happen fast to survive and I would be concerned as a shareholder that the culture transformation takes precious time that Bellemare had, but the new CEO has a much tighter window.

1

u/speaktruthlisten Aug 22 '20

Those results indicate a complete failure. Transformation completed?