Adient named Douglas DelGrosso, the top executive at Chassix, president and CEO, replacing Frederick "Fritz" Henderson.
DelGrosso, 56, will take over the top executive role at Adient, an automotive seating supplier, on Oct. 1, the company said. He's currently president and CEO at Chassix, a Southfield, Mich., supplier.
Henderson, the former CEO of General Motors, who had been serving in the top job at Adient on an interim basis since the forced retirement of Bruce McDonald in June, will serve as nonexecutive chairman of Adient's board.
Chassix's CFO Michael Beyer will serve as interim CEO while the company searches for DelGrosso's replacement.
Adient, based in Plymouth, Mich., has struggled to maintain consistent profitability since its spinoff from Johnson Controls Inc. in October 2016.
It swung to a profit of $877 million last year after a $1.5 billion loss in 2016. But it has struggled financially again in fiscal year 2018, dragged down by its unprofitable seat structures and mechanisms division and $3.3 billion in debt.
During its first three fiscal quarters this year, Adient said it posted a net loss of $330 million compared with net income of $533 million during the same period last year. Total revenue during the nine months grew 8.6 percent to $13.29 billion.
The company hatched a restructuring plan this year that spurred management changes in the troubled seating division as well as reduced capital spending.
Turnaround specialist
DelGrosso has experience fixing sinking auto suppliers. He joined Chassix in 2016 to help the company emerge from bankruptcy and has since led a turnaround.
Chassix was born leveraged in April 2013, when Platinum Equity formed it by merging Wixom, Mich.,-based Diversified Machine Inc. and SMW Automotive Inc. of Troy, Mich. Platinum, controlled by Tom Gores, owner of the NBA's Detroit Pistons, had acquired Diversified Machine from The Carlyle Group in December 2011.
The debt proved insurmountable. Chassix filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March 2015 with $556.7 million in total debt and $34.3 million in assets after missing bond payments. It was reorganized and emerged from bankruptcy in July 2015.
Since the bankruptcy, DelGrosso led a $50 million expansion in Europe and a roughly $30 million acquisition of Austrian conglomerate Benteler International AG's automotive casting business. Terms of that deal were not disclosed but an outside valuation expert estimated the value of the deal for Crain's Detroit Business, an affiliate of Automotive News.
"He brings the right vision, leadership experience and operational expertise needed to drive Adient's transformation forward," John Barth, interim chairman of the Adient board, said in a news release.
Before joining Chassix, DelGrosso served as president and CEO of Henniges Automotive Inc. in Auburn Hill, Mich. He also has served in executive roles at ZF TRW (then TRW Automotive) and Lear Corp.
DelGrosso earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Lawrence Technological University and an MBA from Michigan State University.
You can reach Dustin Walsh at dwalsh@crain.com