Cummins Confidential : Mining – Stop At Nothing, Breathe Later
By The Cummins Accountability Project
Last week, we slowed down temporarily. Dring this time, Cummins published a mining “legacy” piece. It’s the usual hymn: humble beginnings, heroic engineers, innovation, grit, destiny. They even keep a precious old engine in a heritage centre like it’s a relic from the saints.
And then, right at the end, they write the quiet (any slightly ominous) part out loud: “We’ll stop at nothing”
People. That is not a slogan. That is a warning label.
A Museum Engine And A Modern Problem
Cummins opens with the 1926 Model F, diesel-powered, powering a rope shovel excavator. The only known model in the world sits in the Cummins Heritage Center as a “living archive”.
Lovely. A tiny serial number. A big story. A polished glass case around the idea that diesel was a humble miracle.
What they do not put in the glass case is what diesel actually means in mining when it’s been running for decades: the smell, the haze, the “just get the job done” culture where the machine always comes first.
“Dirty Environments” Is Doing A Lot Of Work
They admit early engines wore out quickly because the valvetrain was exposed in “dirty environments”.
That is Cummins telling you exactly what mining is, without saying it: abrasive, hostile, unforgiving. A place where every moving part gets punished.
Now zoom out. It’s not just engines that wear out in dirty environments. People do too. Slowly. Predictably. Profitably.
Innovation, Or Just A Longer Leash
Then comes the innovation parade: enclosed engines, full lubrication, redesigned pumps, turbocharging, fuel system evolution, emissions regulations, remote monitoring.
It reads like a straight line of progress. Like every new problem was met with a more powerful solution.
But mining does not work like a bedtime story. “More powerful solution” is often just a nicer way of saying: we made it possible to pull more out of the ground faster, longer, harder, with fewer pauses and less mercy.
You don’t need villains. You just need incentives.
PrevenTech And The Romance Of Remote Monitoring
Cummins calls itself an early leader in remote monitoring, leading to today’s PrevenTech®.
Remote monitoring is sold as care. As foresight. As reliability.
It is also the soft part of the trap. The machine becomes “smarter”, the operator becomes more dependent, and the customer becomes welded to the vendor’s ecosystem. The engine doesn’t just run. It reports. It pings. It tells on you.
That is not nostalgia. That is a leash with Wi-Fi.
“Hybrid Retrofits” And Other Comfort Stories
They mention acquiring First Mode and unveiling a hybrid electric retrofit system for mining haul trucks.
Here’s the trick Cummins loves: take the dirtiest industries on earth, bolt on a cleaner-sounding noun, and call it transition.
Mining doesn’t become virtuous because a haul truck has a hybrid retrofit. It becomes marketable. It becomes a slide deck. It becomes a way to keep the same extraction machine rolling while everyone congratulates themselves for “moving forward”.
Forward to what, exactly. More of the same, but with nicer fonts.
The Distributor Network: A Global Footprint Of “We’re Everywhere”
Cummins finishes with scale. Hundreds of distributor locations. Thousands of certified technicians. 190+ countries.
That’s not just support. That’s occupation. A worldwide service lattice that makes Cummins feel inevitable. Mining firms do not just buy an engine. They buy a dependency that comes with a global repair crew and a pipeline of parts.
It is very hard to “transition” away from an ecosystem that has a wrench in every port.
The Line That Should Have Been Left In Drafts
And then the closer: “We’ll stop at nothing to power you forward”.
In mining, “stop at nothing” is not inspiring. It’s the corporate version of a blank cheque. It’s a slogan that fits extraction too well.
It suggests the only limit is what you can get away with.
Which is exactly why TCAP exists. Because “stop at nothing” is what companies say when they want you to admire their ambition and ignore their appetite.
Last Rattle
Cummins wants you to feel proud of a hundred-year story.
Fine. Here’s the honest version.
A century of building engines for industries that chew the world. A century of getting better at it. A century of selling “Power Onward” as if it’s moral progress rather than mechanical persistence.
And a neat little confession at the end, written like a slogan.
Stop at nothing.
Right. We already knew.
Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project
Sources
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