EUROPE: Alstom is to combine its DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) and Nordic (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland) regions from January 2025, and has appointed a turnaround specialist from Siemens as President of the combined business area.
Announcing the change on September 30, Alstom said it was ‘taking an important step in strengthening the regional setup in Europe, three and a half years after the acquisition of Bombardier Transportation’.
Emphasising that Germany was an important market and that the DACH region had become a leading exporter, serving customers beyond its borders, Alstom added that all of its train deliveries to the Nordic countries came from Germany, accounting for 50% of its production in that country.
The enlarged region is to be led by Region President Tim Dawidowsky, who joined Alstom on October 1 and is based in Berlin. He has held roles at a range of Siemens businesses since 1993, most recently as Chief Operating Officer of wind turbine business Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy since May 2022. In 2012-15 he was CEO of the Transmission Solution unit, where he led a restructuring back to profitable growth. A similar turnaround was undertaken at the Large Drives business where he was CEO in 2015-19.
‘Tim comes with extensive turnaround experience and a deep understanding of project-based businesses, that will help us bring increased efficiencies’, explained Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge. ‘I look forward to welcoming him to Alstom’s leadership team and working with him to make us more competitive in this important region.’
Dawidowsky said he would be leveraging his ‘experience driving transformation during this strategic juncture in Alstom’s journey, one focused on optimisation and sustainable growth’.
Previous DACH Region President Müslüm Yakisan will support Dawidowsky during a transition period until the end of October. Thanking him ‘for his dedication to Alstom and the DACH region’, Poupart-Lafarge explained that Müslüm had ‘led the integration of Bombardier for DACH, a region with the largest amount of legacy projects. His accomplishments include securing some of the largest Alstom contracts, such as the Coradia Max for Baden-Württemberg and most recently, Hamburg metro and Köln S-Bahn.’
