MINERAL POINT The engine exhaust experts at Cummins Emission Solutions in Mineral Point didnt have to invite the media and local political leaders to the opening of its new high horsepower facility last month.
But after 17 years of making emission-control products for global commercial markets in this small Iowa County city some 50 miles southwest of Madison, it was a good time for a public reminder of the companys enduring stake in the area, plant manager Giri Thiyagarajan said. About a third of CES 470 employees live between Mineral Point and Dodgeville, with the rest from a 90-mile radius.
This shows our commitment to this place, he said, about the expansion and unveiling of the new plant on April 16. Cummins could have pretty much put this facility anywhere. But based on the needs of our customers, as well as the expertise of our folks here, we thought this was the right place to invest.
Company officials wouldnt say how much the expansion cost. But it adds a second factory floor of some 20,000 square feet in a one-story building less than a quarter mile east of the existing facility, which includes 165,000 square feet of production space and the companys business offices at 856 Fair St.
Because workers on the new floor will weld together some of the largest equipment made by CES, the building includes overhead cranes to move products and machines to turn pieces as they are built to provide the best and safest angles for welding. It also boasts a prototype area to build and test new designs and a collaboration space featuring interactive technology that allows production workers in Mineral Point to see, talk and draw together with company engineers in Stoughton and other locations.
Our new plant is a direct reflection of our innovative mindset, said Srikanth Padmanabhan, CES vice president and general manager. While the plant is equipped for large-size (emission control) solutions and quality production, our business has placed an equally strong focus on employee and building safety.
The need for emission controls on engines for vehicles and equipment is driven by federal environmental regulations that since the 1970s have required increasingly more stringent air-quality standards.
CES is a subsidiary of Cummins Inc., a global enterprise based in Columbus, Indiana, with 48,000 employees worldwide thats best known as the worlds leading diesel engine maker.
Engine sales produced close to half of the conglomerates $17.3 billion in revenues last year, with the rest from related equipment, made by subsidiaries including CES, such as fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration and emission control.
Created to provide cleaner solutions for treating the byproducts of engine combustion, Cummins CES subsidiary is a multinational corporation, with operations in China, India, Germany, Brazil, South Africa and the United Kingdom, in addition to Indiana and Wisconsin.
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Cummins adds second factory floor in Mineral Point to make emission control systems for big engines