Will Cummins ever integrate vertically?

It is not unreasonable to think that 12 or 18 months ago, at least one Cummins senior executive might have mulled over the question in his mind in a quiet moment: Is it time for the company to integrate vertically?

Columbus readies for the new ISV5.0

Journalists have been guided through Cummins’ first engine plant, the Columbus Engine Plant, otherwise known as CEP, where the new ISV5.0 will be built. Pilot engines are going down the line.

The last engine built at CEP was the N14 line. At one time the N14 accounted for more than half the heavy-duty road-going engines sold in America, and it developed an enviable reputation for being “bulletproof” according to . http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2013/10/cummins-indiana-plant-gets-ready-to-build-the-isv50.html#more.

Cummins no doubt hopes the new ISV5.0 (which it has been developing for the last 13 years according to sources) will prove just as robust as the N14. The plant still does machining on ISX blocks and heads but has been under-utilized since that engine assembly was moved to Jamestown, New York in 2001.