Cummins eliminates at least 500 jobs

Jan. 1, 2009
Cummins Inc. announced that it will have reduced its professional workforce worldwide by at least 500 employees or approximately 3.5 percent as of the

Cummins Inc. announced that it will have reduced its professional workforce worldwide by at least 500 employees — or approximately 3.5 percent — as of the end of 2008 as a result of continued deterioration in the U.S. economy and other key markets around the world.

The employee reductions come from all parts of the company. In order to minimize the impact of involuntary employment actions, the company has decided to offer a voluntary retirement package to certain active professional employees in the United States based on a clearly defined set of criteria.

Cummins has deployed its “rings of defense” approach to reducing costs at manufacturing and logistics locations worldwide. Actions taken so far include:

  • Initiating temporary plant shutdowns, shortened work weeks, and extending traditional holiday closing periods.

  • Reducing by several hundred the number of contingent workers in manufacturing and logistics locations.

  • Eliminating overtime in many locations.

  • Eliminating nearly 100 hourly positions in the company's Fuel Systems plant in Juarez, Mexico, and another 85 hourly employees in the Mid-Range engine plant in Darlington, United Kingdom.