19 October 2009
Cummins Inc. Powers Community Involvement in China
Washington — When a devastating earthquake struck China’s Sichuan province in May 2008, Cummins Inc.’s subsidiary in China quickly offered direct emergency support. The diesel engine manufacturing company’s foundation next mobilized a worldwide employee fundraising campaign to focus on long-term, sustainable development in the region.
Uniquely positioned as an engine supplier for much of the heavy equipment required for rescue and recovery efforts, Cummins China sent a service-support team to the disaster site within 72 hours. The company provided free maintenance for two months for all Cummins-powered reconstruction equipment — including excavators, loaders and cranes — in the areas affected by the quake.
For its relief efforts, its commitment to the environment, and for establishing a network of employee-led community involvement teams, Cummins China has been named a finalist for the U.S. secretary of state’s 2009 Award for Corporate Excellence.
Cummins China employees have organized 27 community involvement teams in provinces and administrative areas across China. In 2008, some 3,380 Cummins workers participated in more than 50 local projects throughout China, including painting classrooms, supporting a children’s shelter, building libraries and developing junior achievement programs.
Cummins in recent years has focused on protecting the environment and producing diesel engines that meet or exceed Chinese emissions standards.
Cummins China also joined with the Xi’an Environment Protection Bureau and Xi’an television station to launch a competition that rewards energy saving and emissions reduction. The Cummins Kunming branch in southwest China runs an environmental and sustainable development project with the nongovernmental organization World Vision to plant peach trees at an impoverished village in Yunnan province. Cummins Turbo Technologies, based in Wuxi, is helping its suppliers to save energy.
In celebration of its anniversary, Cummins has launched the 90th Anniversary Community Environmental Challenge, which will award $10,000 grants to the 15 best environment-related projects put together by Cummins’ community involvement teams in 2009.
The first Cummins office in China was established in 1979. Today, Cummins is the largest foreign investor in the China diesel engine industry. Cummins China had $2.3 billion in total sales in 2008, has invested more than $300 million in China to date, and employs more than 7,000 people.
More information on Cummins is available on its Web site.
