When leaders look to improve performance in complex industrial businesses, the focus often turns to individual areas, operations, supply chain, quality, or workforce. Each part has its own targets, its own pressures, and its own way of measuring success. My guest on the show, Tom Gentile explains, performance is not driven by any one area on its own. It's driven by how well these parts operate together.

Tom currently is the President and CEO of Hexcel and held executive leadership roles at Spirit Aerosystems, GE Aviation, GE Capital, and GE Healthcare, where he developed deep expertise in operations, productivity, and industrial systems.

What You'll Discover In This Episode

• The role safety and quality play in setting the standard for performance
• Why performance breaks without alignment
• How to translate a mission statement into execution
• Why material science is shaping the future of performance and capability
• When manufacturing capability becomes a national security issue

Guest Bio

Thomas Gentile is the President and CEO of Hexcel Corporation, a global leader in advanced composite materials. Over his career, he has led major turnarounds, improved operating performance, and driven growth across global organizations, including serving as a Senior Vice President at GE and a member of the Corporate Executive Council under former CEO Jeff Immelt. He began his career at McKinsey & Company and holds a degree in Economics (Magna Cum Laude) from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He currently serves on the boards of Spirit AeroSystems and Synchrony Financial, and has also held leadership roles, including Chairman of Care Innovations (a GE and Intel joint venture) and Chairman and Director of InSightec. Connect with Tom on LinkedIn.

Alex Krutz is the Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing at the U.S. Commerce Department and the Managing Director at Patriot Industrial Partners, an Industrial Advisory firm.

Alex and his team partner with growth-oriented companies to improve their operational, quality and financial performance, drawing on decades of experience in complex problem solving, factory optimization, and supply chain optimization initiatives.

Alex has earned the nickname "The Factory Doctor" from industry executives, analysts and media due to spearheading many manufacturing and supply chain turnarounds. Alex has completed over 250+ industrial performance improvement projects and manufacturing turnarounds around the globe in USA, Mexico, Canada, UK, Italy, France, South Africa, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan and India.

You can find Alex's Op-Ed articles that are featured in industry-leading publications, including Washington Times, Forbes, Aviation Week and Flight Global. He has also been cited in major media outlets, such as Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNBC, among others. He has contributed to prominent conferences and webinars organized by Bank of America, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and other institutions.

Resources

Have a project that can benefit from Alex's expertise?

Alex and his team at Patriot Industrial Partners work with growth-oriented organizations to raise their operational, quality and financial performance, drawing on decades of experience in complex problem solving, factory optimization, and due diligence.

Visit TheFactoryDoctor.com to learn more about private consulting and to request a Discovery Call.

When companies are not hitting their business objectives or have poor customer satisfaction, a common comment to this is, "We need a new strategy."

So after the Corporate Strategy Leader or Management Consultant completes the strategic assessment, many times what comes back is, "The Process."

As my first guest, Pat Shanahan, pointed out, strategy is not a process.

Pat brings decades of experience:

• Former President/CEO of Spirit AeroSystems;

• Former Senior VP at Boeing;

• Deputy Sec of Defense and Acting Sec of Defense (2019).

So how do you make your strategy come to life, create engagement in large, multi-functional organizations, and hit your strategic objectives?

What You'll Discover In This Episode

• The leadership secret to get the highest levels of engagement from your key people

• How to turn naysayers into champions

• The overlooked advantage of the American worker and how to leverage it

• One thing you MUST know before you set goals

• One tactic to get your people to take immediate problem-solving action

• The first steps Pat recommends leaders take to put a strategic change into action

• The one question Pat asked in meetings that drives deeper thinking and better performance

• The biggest pitfall leaders fall into when looking for a 'strategy' breakthrough

• How to build new strategic initiatives into your 'management system' to ensure that everyone owns their piece

• How the tipping point of 1000 employees affects your change management and your chances of hitting new strategic objectives

• How to make your strategy come to life

• The key to reshoring that works

• How the old model of 'blue collar vs white collar work' no longer applies

Guest Bio

Pat Shanahan is an experienced global business and government leader, most recently serving as President and CEO of Spirit AeroSystems. Pat spent three decades with Boeing, with VP roles in Commercial Airplane Programs, Missile Defense Systems, and Rotorcraft Systems. In government, Pat served as the 33rd Deputy Secretary of Defense, as well as Acting Secretary of Defense (2019).

Alex Krutz is the Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing at the U.S. Commerce Department and the Managing Director at Patriot Industrial Partners, an Industrial Advisory firm.

Alex and his team partner with growth-oriented companies to improve their operational, quality and financial performance, drawing on decades of experience in complex problem solving, factory optimization, and supply chain optimization initiatives.

Alex has earned the nickname "The Factory Doctor" from industry executives, analysts and media due to spearheading many manufacturing and supply chain turnarounds. Alex has completed over 250+ industrial performance improvement projects and manufacturing turnarounds around the globe in USA, Mexico, Canada, UK, Italy, France, South Africa, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan and India.

You can find Alex's Op-Ed articles that are featured in industry-leading publications, including Washington Times, Forbes, Aviation Week and Flight Global. He has also been cited in major media outlets, such as Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNBC, among others. He has contributed to prominent conferences and webinars organized by Bank of America, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and other institutions.

Resources

Have a project that can benefit from Alex's expertise?

Alex and his team at Patriot Industrial Partners work with growth-oriented organizations to raise their operational, quality and financial performance, drawing on decades of experience in complex problem solving, factory optimization, and due diligence.

Visit TheFactoryDoctor.com to learn more about private consulting and to request a Discovery Call.

We're at a critical moment in American reindustrialization.

We need more than good intentions or mission statements.

That's why we're launching The Factory Doctor.

In this first episode, Alex shares how he earned the nickname 'The Factory Doctor,' how his family and military background shaped his perspective, and how being inside the U.S. Commerce Department changed the way he thinks about industrial policy.

What You'll Discover In This Episode

• How leading soldiers twice his age in Kosovo turned out to be the best training ground for optimizing factories

• How 20+ years inside Fortune 50 operations, supply chains, and factory floors shaped Alex into a different kind of industrial advisor

• The quiet, decades-long erosion of American industrial capability…and the key to reindustrializing and reshoring the right way

• Why Alex took one year away from his thriving consulting firm…and what building Patriot Industrial Partners from scratch revealed about the state of American industry

• What Alex saw from inside the U.S. Commerce Department that most manufacturing executives never get to see

• What Alex is focused on that he couldn't do from Washington

• Why this moment in American reindustrialization demands more than good intentions…and how this show can be a part of the solution

Alex Krutz is the Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing at the U.S. Commerce Department and the Managing Director at Patriot Industrial Partners, an Industrial Advisory firm.

Alex and his team partner with growth-oriented companies to improve their operational, quality and financial performance, drawing on decades of experience in complex problem solving, factory optimization, and supply chain optimization initiatives.

Alex has earned the nickname "The Factory Doctor" from industry executives, analysts and media due to spearheading many manufacturing and supply chain turnarounds. Alex has completed over 250+ industrial performance improvement projects and manufacturing turnarounds around the globe in USA, Mexico, Canada, UK, Italy, France, South Africa, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan and India.

You can find Alex's Op-Ed articles that are featured in industry-leading publications, including Washington Times, Forbes, Aviation Week and Flight Global. He has also been cited in major media outlets, such as Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNBC, among others. He has contributed to prominent conferences and webinars organized by Bank of America, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and other institutions.

You're an executive in a mission-critical industry. You know your organization is capable of more. So why settle for mediocrity when your team can be great?

The Factory Doctor brings you the non-obvious insights and hard-won lessons that help you uncover hidden weaknesses, amplify your strengths, and lead your business toward something greater.

Join your host Alex Krutz - the Factory Doctor and former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing at the U.S. Commerce Department - as he sits down with growth-oriented leaders across manufacturing and heavy industries across the transportation, machinery defense, energy and technology.

Every episode goes deep in three areas: Leadership, Strategy, and Industrial Policy. You'll walk away with fresh perspectives and actionable ideas you can bring back to your organization. Greatness doesn't happen by accident. It happens because leaders like you decided to pursue it.

Alex Krutz is the Former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Manufacturing at the U.S. Commerce Department and the Managing Director at Patriot Industrial Partners, an Industrial Advisory firm.

Alex and his team partner with growth-oriented companies to improve their operational, quality and financial performance, drawing on decades of experience in complex problem solving, factory optimization, and supply chain optimization initiatives.

Alex has earned the nickname "The Factory Doctor" from industry executives, analysts and media due to spearheading many manufacturing and supply chain turnarounds. Alex has completed over 250+ industrial performance improvement projects and manufacturing turnarounds around the globe in USA, Mexico, Canada, UK, Italy, France, South Africa, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan and India.

You can find Alex's Op-Ed articles that are featured in industry-leading publications, including Washington Times, Forbes, Aviation Week and Flight Global. He has also been cited in major media outlets, such as Wall Street Journal, Reuters, CNBC, among others. He has contributed to prominent conferences and webinars organized by Bank of America, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and other institutions.