By Brenda Showalter, The Republic
bshowalter@therepublic.com
Cummins Inc. has recalled 438 hourly workers in southern Indiana, including 340 at the Midrange Engine Plant in Walesboro.
No dates have been determined, but workers likely will be back on the job by mid- to late-September.
Cummins previously announced in August that CEMP workers would be recalled and that a plant shutdown was trimmed from two months to three weeks.
Also being recalled are:
59 at the Columbus Fuel Systems Plant.
16 in heavy duty machining at Columbus Engine Plant.
23 at Cummins Industrial Center in Seymour.
"While this is good news for our employees in southern Indiana, it is too early to know whether these callbacks will be permanent or when we will be able to recall additional workers," said Mark Land, executive director of corporate communications.
The callbacks are the result of Cummins seeing an increase in orders even though the company expects overall markets to be weak throughout 2010.
New orders are being received for engines for the Dodge Ram heavyduty pickup. Land said Cummins typically sees an uptick in sales before the new model year comes out.
Cummins also is seeing advance orders associated with the Jan. 1 Environmental Protection Agency emissions changes for heavy-duty engines.
"We are continuing to closely monitor the demand for our products and will make further adjustments as necessary to ensure that our manufacturing capacity remains aligned with demand," Land said.
CEMP exclusively supplies 6.7-liter diesel engines for Dodge Ram 2500 and 3500 pickups.
Cummins began idling CEMP workers in mid-May due to Chrysler's bankruptcy, but in mid-June Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy and said it would honor its contract with Cummins for the midrange engine.