Disappointing - Engineering Manager Cummins Employee Review

1.0
18 Mar 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Most people don't seem to work more than forty hours a week and Columbus is a nice small town. If a pay check and a good place to raise kids is what you're after, this works fairly well.

Cons

The maturity of the company in general was disappointing. Processes were often redundant, poorly thought out and inconsistently applied. Six sigma was the fall back process for everything and many projects were hammered into a green belt format whether it was appropriate or not. Three green belt projects were required before mid level managers could be promoted. I found it insulting that my six sigma credentials from previous employers were discounted. Less tangible but more troubling was an element of fear that seemed to pervade the mind set of the work force. Everyone from the new grad to the executive director would acknowledge that there were some fairly distasteful aspects to working for Cummins. The ranking and rating system, the hiring binges followed by layoffs, and the six sigma policies were fairly unpopular but most people would only complain in private. A significant percentage of the engineers I met weren't quite sure what they were supposed to be doing but were reluctant to admit it. The nail that stuck up got pounded down (or pulled out). Inertia is a powerful thing in large corporations but at least suggestions for change were welcomed, if not acted upon, at my other employers (GE, Ford). At Cummins, I got the sense that upper management felt like they knew what they were doing and didn't need any help from the masses and certainly not from someone outside the organization. I had high hopes when I started at Cummins. By the time I left I felt like I was waking up from a bad dream. It just isn't a place for an ambitious experienced professional to work.

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5.0
2 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great mentorship, great leadership, projects were challenging but very helpful to me growing as an engineer. Hosted lots of employee and intern events

Cons

Rural Indiana--not a lot to do as a young person in the immediate area

2.0
7 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Most the people are okay. BUT this place is TOXIC AF They do not give you a 30min lunch, they take 30min out of your check, but they give you 30min away from your machine, so if you have to walk 2 to 3 min to and from your zone you barely get 25min for lunch, One of the new people was clocking out for 30 min for their lunch and was actually told if you clock out for 30 min you have taken a longer lunch than you are allowed.

Cons

Upper Management doesn't care or doesn't listen to employees, There is nothing on earth that will make people want to be there for 13days in a row, I used to hear at Cummins you have to follow the standard work, now its do whatever you have to to get your numbers. You DO NOT Provide enough time off, not when you are running people 13d in a row. you provide enough time off for a 40h work week nothing more, Get it into your thick skulls.

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