CUMMINS AND MERITOR BETTER TOGETHER

A warm welcome to the family

On 3 August 2022, Cummins Inc completed the acquisition of Meritor Inc, fully welcoming the company and its employees into the Cummins family.

Meritor is a global leader of drivetrain, mobility, braking, aftermarket and electric powertrain solutions for commercial vehicles and industrial markets. Originating in Troy, Michigan, with a legacy of more than 110 years, the company is in 16 countries across the world.

The acquisition is expected to position Cummins as a leading provider of integrated powertrain solutions across internal combustion and electric power applications.

50 years of manufacturing in Australia

This year, Meritor celebrated its 50th anniversary since starting operations in Australia in 1970. Within the last five decades, the company had established itself as a trusted provider of axles in the truck industry, supplying for household names like Kenworth, Volvo, Mack, Western Star, Isuzu and IVECO. As a supplier, Meritor has achieved many accolades for the quality of its products, including the Paccar Parts and Penske Supplier of the Year awards in 2019. Meritor has two sites in Australia – an assembly facility in Sunshine, Victoria, and an aftermarket parts distribution warehouse and brake shoe kit riveting facility in Derrimut, Victoria.

In the Asia Pacific region, Meritor is also in South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

Honing in on zero emissions strategy

The Cummins Asia Pacific leadership team has met Meritor employees, including Meritor Australia Managing Director David Cole, in Melbourne. “We’re excited to have you all join the Cummins family,” Peter Jensen-Muir, Executive Managing Director of Cummins Asia Pacific, said. “What is really strong in terms of integration of our two companies is the alignment of values. Meritor’s core values are integrity, excellence, teamwork and respect which are very similar to Cummins’ values, with Cummins also including diversity, inclusion and caring.” Peter said another key benefit of the Cummins-Meritor integration, especially due to the ensuing business growth, would be career opportunities across the various business units. “There will be lots of opportunities for our employees across Asia Pacific to build strong and rewarding career paths in the years to come,” he said.

Destination Zero

For Cummins, the acquisition of Meritor will enable accelerated development of electrified powertrain solutions. “Together, we’re in a really strong position to help our onhighway and off-highway customers navigate decarbonisation into the future,” Peter said. In particular, Meritor’s advanced ePowertrain is a vital integration point within hybrid and electric drivetrains and is critical to delivering market-leading solutions to customers. Cummins Asia Pacific Director and General Manager of Onhighway, Mike Fowler, said Cummins-Meritor had a “moral obligation to address global warming”. “Between now and 2050, by improving the products we sell today and advancing the internal combustion engine and drivetrain, we can continue emissions abatement at a much faster rate than waiting for that light-switch event – the commercialisation of zero emissions technology,” he said. Mike said widespread customer adoption of new technologies could only be achieved through scale. “One benefit of the Cummins-Meritor integration is that we can achieve far greater scale which will help us commercialise zero emissions technology faster.” Cummins will continue to significantly invest in current combustion technology to ensure any new products have better fuel economy than products that customers had bought previously. Looking to future decades, Mike said 2030-2040 would see many competing technologies, but Cummins predicted the internal combustion engine – whether it be fueled by advanced diesel, hydrogen or natural gas – would likely reach peak volume near the end of that decade.

Since the completed acquisition, both Cummins and Meritor have continued to visit each other across facilities in the Asia Pacific region to learn more about one another.

Cummins Singapore invites the Meritor Singapore leadership team to visit.