Alex Kummant

About Alex Kummant

I have run nine P&L’s in 25 years, both in manufacturing and in transportation/infrastructure. I’m very happy to join Cotta, LLC, a Salt Creek Capital company, as CEO. We produce high quality, tough duty, long life gearboxes and other power transmission products.I wound up a successful five-year run at Aurizon in mid-2017, Australia\'s largest freight railroad, most recently as EVP of Aurizon Network. Formerly I served as CEO of Amtrak, the US national passenger rail service-it was a fascinating experience in the public sector with the most complex external stakeholder challenges that I\'ve ever experienced. My railroad experience began with a mid-career change, from manufacturing, to a series of executive positions at Union Pacific Railroad.I have also managed engineered product P&L\'s for SPX, Emerson Electric, and Invensys Controls-all global businesses. As President of BOMAG, I worked and lived in Germany, where my fluency in the language made a difference.Driving business value has always been at the core of my approach: Aurizon Network, EBIT $325 mill -$506 mill, op ratio 60.7%- 57.1%(20••••16); Aurizon, 92% op ratio to 75%; Spirit AeroSystems Tulsa,+10 points gross profit margin in 1 year (intense lean focus, flat headcount on up volume); Amtrak,$50 million cost out with up volume; Union Pacific,$90+ million incremental profit with first major UP price initiative; Invensys Controls,$100+ million value generation with 20+% price increase drive (reacting to copper price crisis) and lean focus; SPX Lightnin, 2.5 pts OP% improvement with 100 headcount reduction and 2 facilities closed in 3 months; SPX Filtran, 20% overhead reduction; BOMAG, maintained profitability in face of 30+% Euro value accretion (2003-4) with sourcing/lean strategy; and SWECO, 45% revenue growth, 9%- 18% OP%(lean, 50%+ lead-time reductions, high-margin aftermarket strategy).Specialties: manufacturing, transportation, P&L management under crisis/change, federal government, major capital project management, international management, technology adoption/migration into industrial space, major union environments

Experience

1. Chief Executive Officer

   Cotta, Llc

   Dec 2022 — Present · Beloit, WI, US

Education

• Carnegie Mellon University

  Masters, Manufacturing Engineering

  1985 — 1986

• Case Western Reserve University

  BS, Mechanical Engineering

  1978 — 1982

• Stanford University Graduate School of Business

  MBA

  1988 — 1990

Skills

• Operational Excellence
• Supply Chain Management
• Transportation
• Manufacturing
• International Management
• Continuous Improvement
• Strategic Planning
• Cross-Functional Team Leadership
• Federal Government
• Lean Manufacturing
• Operations Management
• Mergers
• Product Development
• Six Sigma
• Process Improvement