Cummins Engine Is Becoming Helpful and International
Engineer helps power the Army National Guard
Minnesota Army National Guard Sergeant and Cummins Supplier Quality Improvement Engineer, Robyn Aiken always had a mechanical and technical interest.
“As a 19 year old looking for a way to pay for college and gain s
ome life experience, I decided to enlist in the Minnesota Army National Guard. I chose the job to become a generator mechanic, because it seemed to fit a technical and mechanical interest I had. Over the past eighteen years of my career, I have had the opportunities to serve not only in the National Guard, but also in the Army Reserve and the Army all over the world equipping military locations with electrical power for my fellow soldiers and performing maintenance on generators. I have performed simple tasks like oil changes and replacing solenoids to more in-depth work like boring out piston heads in an Army depot.”
Arobyn-aiken-3s an active member serving in the Army National Guard, Robyn Aiken decided to use her skills and her experience to infuse her military career with her work at Cummins. She took an opportunity through use of the new AMMPS units to connect her military and Cummins civilian teams.
“Now, 18 years later, as a Sergeant in the Army National Guard Red Bulls, 34 ID, Division Headquarters, I mentor new soldiers on various maintenance items. Recently this past August, I had the honor to attend an operator’s maintenance course at Camp Ripley for the new Advanced Medium Mobile Power Source (AMMPS) units that are built in the Cummins Power Systems plant in Fridley, MN.
I was able to offer a tour to my class instructors who worked virtually with the AMMPS project team for over two years from various locations around the world,to include the depths of remote sites in Afghanistan. Our Cummins team would ship parts, provide technical information and support, while the AMMPS project team unboxed the units and trained soldiers at war. Through my connection of this AMMPS class, I was able to coordinate the first face to face meeting with our Cummins and the military’s teams.”
As of today, the Minnesota Army National Guard is now issuing new AMMPS generators to the various military units.
“I am so pleased to not only server our military but also now work for the company who provides a product that I service. I know first-hand how critical power is for soldiers, and I am truly grateful to now know how much heart and soul is put into the generators by our Cummins employees. One Team, One Fight!”
Making The Case for International Trade
When CEO Tom Linebarger looks at the Cummins’ high horsepower plant and tech center in Seymour, Indiana, he sees the critical importance of international trade.
The 800-employee facility produces Cummins diesel generator QSK95, the largest high speed diesel engine in the world. The company has invested about $500 million to launch the engine, and just over two-thirds will be shipped outside the United States.
“So does trade matter to us? You bet,” Linebarger said during a recent speech to the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce where he was joined by U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce Steve Haro. “Eight hundred people (at the Seymour facility) depend on trade, otherwise that engine doesn’t make it.”
Linebarger is working with other business leaders including U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker to promote the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Act (TPP), a free-trade agreement that would formalize trade relations between the United States and 11 Pacific Rim countries.
Linebarger and others hope the agreement, which has bipartisan support, can be passed by Congress after the election and before President Obama departs in January, overcoming the negative and misleading trade rhetoric that has been prevalent during the Presidential race.
Haro and Linebarger say bad news about trade gets a disproportionate amount of media coverage in the U.S., while the jobs created by trade are largely ignored. In addition to the 800 employees at Seymour, Linebarger noted there are hundreds of suppliers who contribute to the QSK95 who also benefit from trade. Trade for the company goes well beyond the QSK95. Cummins diesel generator exports about $3 billion worth of goods annually in the U.S.
Seymour was selected for the QSK95 over potential sites in India, China and the United Kingdom, Linebarger said. “When the rules are reasonably even, U.S. companies can compete quite well,” he added. “That’s my view.”
Linebarger, who has been extolling the benefits of trade in conversations with various groups including employee unions, says continued growth is critical to the company, noting that 95 percent of the world’s potential customers are outside the United States.
What’s become lost in the debate over trade, he said, is that TPP is “the agreement we’ve all been waiting for.”
It includes language to promote and protect the e-commerce and high-tech sectors, intellectual property, food safety and more, while also including labor and environmental standards. TPP also includes language to make it easier to bring enforcement actions when countries don’t abide by the act.
“Issues that people have been bringing up for years (regarding trade) are in this agreement for the first time and nobody’s talking about that,” Linebarger said.
“We’ve got 12 countries in agreement, both political parties, a president who wants to sign it and a Congress that’s got the votes,” said Linebarger, maintaining the time is right to pass the act. “When are we going to see that again?”