Supplier Series : Optimas - Prime Candidates for a Supplier Series Edition

There’s always a corporate brochure that smells faintly of lacquer and breath mints. Optimas’ is tasteful, full of smiling factory shots and neat bullet points about quality and on-time deliveries. Stick a Cummins Quality Award on the mantelpiece and you’re basically anointed. But take a close peak behind the curtain and you’ll find court files that read like a different company – one that prefers subpoenas to conversation and litigation to good governance. That’s the story here: a supplier who can win awards by day and drag customers into the high court by night.

This isn’t a hit piece for clicks. It’s a vendor risk dossier through our eyes. If you care about factory floors, production lines or the reputations of buyers who name-drop you in press releases – read on.

When supply lines aren’t life support – they’re hostage situations

Picture this. A carmaker needs parts to keep a production line moving. The clock is a guillotine. LEVC pleaded with Optimas to keep supplying a mountain of bespoke parts and came to court asking a judge to force the supplier to keep the line alive. Sounds reasonable, right? The court refused the emergency injunction. Not because LEVC lied, but because the contract and the evidence weren’t clear-cut – and because the judge thought damages might do. Translation – Optimas had the leverage and the court said it wasn’t going to play scaffolding for a production rescue without clearer proof. That’s uncomfortable for any OEM. It reveals a supplier willing to run hard-nosed commercial plays at the risk of stopping other people’s businesses dead. This isn’t procurement drama. It’s operational blackmail in a three-piece suit.

Trade-secret wars – litigation as strategy

If you think suppliers just quietly move bolts and parts, think again. Optimas sued ex-employees and competitors in the US in a trade-secret battle that didn’t whisper – it blared. Claims of stolen customers, trafficking in confidential lists and alleged IP theft landed in federal court under the Defend Trade Secrets Act. These are not accidental disputes. They’re scorched-earth tactics meant to deter talent mobility and to send a message: if you leave, expect subpoenas. For buyers and partners, that’s a red flag – a supplier that treats human capital and customer relationships like hostage objects is a brittle counterparty when supply chains stress.

Fingerprints, privacy and a six-figure stain

Modern factories use biometrics for timekeeping. Modern law in Illinois bites hard when companies mishandle that data. Optimas found itself named in a biometric privacy class action under BIPA. The case headed toward a settlement figure in the six-figure range. Not gargantuan, but not trivial either. This isn’t a freak accident. It points to sloppy data practices where peoples’ fingerprints become legal landmines. In an era when compliance is a checkbox buyers need to tick, this matters. Biometric privacy isn’t a niche tech issue – it’s employee safety and consent. A supplier that doesn’t get that deserves a place on a vendor watchlist.

Awards, PR and the great double-take

Now for the fun part. Optimas proudly lists certifications, supplier awards and a modern-slavery statement that looks good in a pitch deck. They shout about long-term agreements and case studies – and yes, they have a Cummins Quality Award on their site. Problem is, awards do not replace behaviour. You can pin a ribbon to a factory wall and still mismanage biometric data, litigate aggressively and leave OEMs scrambling in court. The juxtaposition is ugly and instructive. It’s the corporate equivalent of a well-lit portrait hanging over a basement full of unpaid invoices.

Why this matters to Cummins and its partners

Cummins is not guilty by association. But it is sensible to ask why engine-makers and OEMs award suppliers without sufficient operational transparency. If your supplier can hold a production line to ransom, or be dragged into privacy suits, who takes the hit? Not the supplier’s PR team. Not the awards committee. It’s the factory worker who misses a shift and the OEM facing millions in downtime. When you run campaigns calling out corporate hypocrisy, details like these are the nails you hammer home.

The throughline – compliance as a paper umbrella

Optimas’ case files suggest a pattern many big suppliers share – excellent marketing, functional compliance statements, and the ability to fracture when pressure hits. Contracts don’t stop stress. Threats and injunction fights do not inspire confidence. Biometric settlements do not scream world-class data governance. Together, those things point to a supplier that behaves like a corporate defensive machine rather than a secure, resilient partner.

Final cut

If you work in procurement, compliance or investor relations – file this under actionable intelligence. Ask for the supply-chain continuity plans. Demand contractual penalties tied to downtime. Check the privacy logs and audit trails for biometric systems. And for Cummins or any OEM still handing out awards like participation trophies – ask whether those shiny plaques come with audited behaviour checks beyond the press release.

Optimas sells bolts and logistics. That’s their business. But a supplier that litigates first and asks questions later is a risk. Awards and PR aren’t a guarantee. They are a front. And under pressure, the real product is revealed.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

Supplier Series : Optimas – Prime Candidates for a Supplier Series Edition