Cummins to Spend $580 Million on North Carolina Engine Plant
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Cummins Inc. plans to spend $580 million on its Rocky Mount Engine Plant in North Carolina, much of it as part of the company’s decarbonization push, it said.
Columbus, Ind.-based Cummins said the spending would add about 80 jobs at the plant, on top of the existing 2,000. The company expects the funds to enhance plans to achieve zero emissions across its products as part of an initiative known as Destination Zero.
The investment at Rocky Mount will involve installing new manufacturing equipment and upgrading the assembly line for next-generation products, it said.
Cummins’ spending will support the plant’s focus on the medium-duty on- and off-highway business, a spokeswoman said Jan. 12. The plant currently produces 4.5-liter, 6.7-liter and 9-liter engines for the medium-duty market, the spokeswoman said in an email.
Some of Cummins’ next-generation engines to be launched in the coming years may shift in their displacement, but will stay in that range, she added.
Projects started under the program will be completed by 2027, she said.
Rocky Mount will continue to produce diesel and natural gas engines, but its capabilities will be expanded when it comes to gasoline and propane engines as part of Destination Zero, the spokeswoman said.
Additional alternative fuel options will be explored and added at the plant as customer demand develops, she added.
Cummins said the spending would add about 80 jobs at the plant, on top of the existing 2,000. (Cummins Inc.)
“We are excited to be driving continued growth within Nash County and creating jobs that rely on high-caliber technology for the future,” said Steve Pinkston, Rocky Mount plant manager. “Cummins is focused on Destination Zero and getting there as quickly as possible.”
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Destination Zero involves fuel-agnostic engine platforms that feature a series of engine versions derived from a common base engine. The design approach is applied across the engines including the B6.7 and the X15, plus a new 10-liter portfolio called the X10.
Cummins began testing its natural gas-powered X15N engine with U.S. customers in May 2023, a major step forward for its largest gas-powered powertrain in North America.
The range of a Class 8 truck with an X15N is at least 750 miles. The X15N can use renewable natural gas: biomethane, or the cleaned-up gaseous product of the decomposition of organic matter. And the X15 platform is set to be available for use of hydrogen by 2027.
To facilitate its low-carbon advances, Cummins in May 2023 announced plans to spend $1 billion on manufacturing plant upgrades.
Operations at Rocky Mount began in 1983 at what started out as a joint venture with Case named Consolidated Diesel Co. The Rocky Mount facility has produced over 5 million engines, at least 1 million more than any other Cummins engine facility.
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