Cummins
Cummins Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and distributes diesel engines, electric vehicle components, and power generation products. Cummins also services engines and related equipment, including fuel systems, air handling systems controls, filtration, emission control, electrical power generation systems, and engine control units.
Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, Cummins sells in approximately 190 countries and territories through a network of more than 600 company-owned and independent distributors and approximately 7,200 dealers.
History
The Cummins Engine Company was founded in Columbus, Indiana on February 3, 1919, by mechanic Clessie Cummins and banker William Glanton Irwin. The company focused on developing the diesel engine, which was invented 20 years earlier. Despite several well-publicized endurance trials, it was not until 1933 that their Model H engine, used in small railroad switchers, proved successful. The Cummins N Series engines became the industry leader in the post-World War II road-building boom in the United States, with more than half of the heavy-duty truck market using Cummins engines from 1952 to 1959. In the 1960s, the company opened an assembly plant in Shotts, Scotland. By 2013, Cummins had operations in 197 countries and territories.Business units
Cummins Components Business
Cummins Component Business Unit consists of emission solutions, filtration, fuel systems, turbo technologies, and electronics. The Cummins Turbo Technologies unit designs and manufactures turbochargers and related products on a global scale, for diesel engines above 3 liters. Its Emission Solutions unit develops and supplies catalytic exhaust systems and associated products to the medium and heavy-duty commercial diesel engine markets. Cummins Filtration designs, manufactures and distributes heavy-duty and light-duty air, fuel, hydraulic and lube filtration, chemicals and exhaust system technology products for diesel and gas-powered equipment. In contrast Cummins Electronics designs engine control units and sensors for Cummins diesel engines.Cummins Engine Business
Cummins Engine Business Unit consists of aftermarket support, mid-range, heavy-duty, and high-power engines. Its markets include heavy and medium-duty trucks, buses, recreational vehicles, light-duty automotive, and several industrial uses, including construction, mining, marine, oil, gas, railroad and military equipment.One of the most popular engines built is the 5.9-liter I6 engine used in the Dodge Ram heavy-duty pickups starting in 1988. In 2007, a 6.7-liter version of the Cummins straight-six engine became optional on the RAM pickup. In 2008, Cummins was a named defendant in a class-action suit related to 1998-2001 model year Dodge Ram trucks, model 2500 or 3500, originally equipped with a Cummins ISB 5.9 liter diesel engine built using a pattern 53 Block. The case has been settled, but some qualified Chrysler owners may receive $500 for repairs to the block, which was alleged to crack and create a coolant leak.
In April 2013, Cummins utilized technology developed by Westport Innovations to ship large natural gas-fueled engines to truck manufacturers in the United States as trucking companies began converting portions of their fleets to natural gas and the natural gas distribution network in the United States began to expand.
Cummins has a technical center in Darlington, England, for developing products for the European, Middle Eastern, and Asian markets.
Cummins Distribution Business
Cummins Distribution Business consists of engine and power generation distribution as well as service and parts. The distribution unit of Cummins consists of 17 Cummins owned distributors and 10 joint ventures, covering 90 countries and territories through 234 locations.Cummins Power Systems Business
Cummins Power Systems Business Unit consists of alternators, automatic transfer switches, commercial power systems, consumer systems, engines, and paralleling systems.All of the above stem from the Cummins Onan Corporation, whose products remain in service today.
This Business Unit was formed recently, following a merge of the Power Generation Unit and High Horsepower Sub-Division.
On August 22, 2017, United Rentals announced it had acquired all mobile power generation assets from Cummins. To maintain fleet and customer service continuity, some Cummins employees joined United Rentals.
Accelera by Cummins
On March 8, 2023, Cummins rebranded its New Power business unit as Accelera by Cummins. Accelera designs and produces zero-emissions power generation and vehicle propulsion devices, including hydrogen fuel cells, batteries, e-axles, traction systems and electrolyzers.Subsidiaries
Cummins Turbo Technologies
The Holset Engineering Co. was a British company that produced turbochargers, primarily for diesel and heavy-duty applications.In 1973 the company was purchased by Cummins after briefly being owned by the Hanson Trust. Holset now operates facilities in China, India, Brazil, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In 2006, the division officially changed its name to Cummins Turbo Technologies to be identified more closely with its parent company. The turbocharger products still use the Holset brand name.
Cummins Valvetrain Technologies
invented the engine brake in the late 1950s and sold the technology to Jacobs Chuck in 1961 for production, which created the Clessie L. Cummins division of the company to produce engine brakes as an aftermarket option for various diesel engines. This division would later separate from its parent company and be known as Jacobs Vehicle Systems from then on. The company would be purchased by Cummins in 2022.The division has manufacturing facilities in Bloomfield, CT as well as Suzhou, China, and although it is no longer known as Jacobs Vehicle Systems, Cummins still uses the Jacobs name for its engine braking products.
The company also designs and manufactures multiple variable valve actuation technologies for heavy-duty applications.
Cummins Power Systems
In 1986, Cummins began the acquisition of Onan and completed it in 1992. Since then, Onan has evolved into Cummins Power Generation, a wholly invested division of Cummins. The Onan name continues to be used for modern versions of their traditional engine-driven generators for RV, marine, commercial mobility, home standby, and portable use.Cummins Inc. announced that it will be unifying its brand strategy across its Power Systems business segment, which provides high-speed engines from 760 to 4400 HP and power generation equipment from 2–3,500 kW, including standby and prime power gen sets, alternators, switchgear and other components. Currently, the portfolio features the Cummins, Cummins Power Generation and Cummins Onan brands. With immediate effect, the branding will be consolidated under the Cummins brand. The Cummins Power Generation and Cummins Onan brands will be retired and the Onan name synonymous with mobile gensets, will be repositioned as a generator product line under the newly unified Cummins brand in the RV market.
Cummins Inc. will also be permanently changing all “Fun Roads” branding to Cummins RV moving forward as well and the Fun Roads brand will also be retired. As Onan will now be repositioned as an RV product line, with the new rv.cummins.com website and social media platforms serving as tools for RVers across the country to find relevant information like product specs and a sales and service locator.
“Looking to unify Cummins into one cohesive, unified brand, we decided that consolidating both products into the Cummins RV family only strengthens the brand and more uniformly speaks to our manufacturers and consumers,” said Jodie Wilson. “The brand changing will not affect product or service offerings, but will help us to continue on our promise of delivering dependability across the globe.”
Rebranding occurred globally on all marketing activities, as product branding changed across all manufacturing plants beginning July 2017.
President Joe Biden visited the Cummins plant in Fridley, Minnesota on April 3, 2022. It was part of his "Investing in America" tour. Cummins had announced a US$1 billion initiative to produce clean energy technology, including electrolyzers for hydrogen cells in Fridley.
Cummins Emission Solutions
Exhaust and emissions after-treatment company Nelson Industries was purchased in 1999, due to the increasing importance of exhaust after-treatment systems for meeting future emissions standards. The division changed its name to Cummins Emission Solutions to be identified more closely with their parent company.China operations
Cummins has some joint ventures with Chinese manufacturers, such as Dongfeng Cummins, a joint venture with Dongfeng Automobile Company, as well as Guangxi Cummins Industrial Power with LiuGong. One of the most successful joint ventures is the joint venture with Foton called Beijing Foton Cummins Engine Company. This joint venture developed the ISG/X12 engine platform in the mid-2010s. The ISG/X12 in China has surpassed 240,000 units per year making it the highest volume heavy duty engine in the Cummins product line. The ISG/X12 is the foundation for all Cummins future engine platforms.Other entities were Cummins Beijing, Chongqing Cummins Engine, Xi’an Cummins Engine, Wuxi Newage Alternators, Xiangfan Fleetguard, Wuxi Cummins Turbo Technologies.
India operations
Cummins India is the Indian subsidiary of Cummins. Cummins India is publicly traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India. Cummins began its India operations on 17 February 1962 in a joint venture with the Kirloskar Group. The ownership structure of the joint venture was divided as follows:- Cummins - 50%
- Kirloskar Group - 25.5%
- Retail Investors - 24.5%
Cummins conducts a significant part of its R&D in India at the Cummins Research and Technology centre that was established in 2003. Cummins has built a technical centre in Pune which houses over 2500 engineers, called CTCI.
Cummins India has made significant contributions to local skill development by establishing the MKSSS's Cummins College of Engineering for Women, a women-only engineering college in Pune.