By Boris Ladwig, The Republic
bladwig@therepublic.com
Cummins Inc. plans to hire another 48 workers at Columbus Midrange Engine Plant due to strong - but probably temporary - demand for the Dodge Ram engine.
The company has offered positions at CMEP to 48 Diesel Workers Union members who had been laid off from jobs at Columbus Engine Plant, Fuel Systems Plant and the light-duty diesel engine project, said Mark Land, executive director of corporate communications.
Cummins had recalled about 270 workers to CMEP last month and added a second shift because the main customer, Chrysler, wanted to have plenty of Cummins-powered 2010 Dodge Ram pickup trucks available.
CMEP is the exclusive supplier of the Ram's 6.7-liter diesel engines.
In May, Chrysler's bankruptcy and its idling of plants had resulted in Cummins halting production at CMEP and laying off 720.
Production resumed with 400 employees in mid-July, but Cummins idled the plant three weeks in August and September after finishing the production of engines for the 2009 model year.
After the latest employee recall, the plant will employ about 650 hourly workers.
"The demand is good for now," Land said.
However, he also said that the company expects orders to drop in the first half of next year, and that it had added the second shift only temporarily.
DWU Secretary/Treasurer Tammi Reinbold said the union and the company still were working out details for the latest employee recall.
She also said that the union had filed a grievance related to employees who were called back to work in October. She said she could not discuss details.
In the first half of the year, Cummins had reduced its southern Indiana work force by nearly 1,200 as it responded to declining orders.
Third-quarter sales fell 31.5 percent from a year earlier, but thanks in part to cost-cutting, Cummins recorded a profit of $95 million, down 59 percent from a year earlier, but up from $7 million in the first quarter and $56 million in the second.