Cummins has dropped a neat little triple in the newsroom. All congratulating itself, naturally. A personal story, a trade show flex, and a “platform” explainer. Three different outfits. Same smell. Corporate deodorant over diesel breath.
This is how they do it when they want the reader soothed.
You get a human face. You get a shiny event. You get a technical diagram you are supposed to respect.
Then you stop asking the only questions that matter.
So let’s do the opposite. Let’s read it properly.
Demi And The Diversity Shield
First up, we get Demi. Smart. Technical. Controls software. Regulatory requirements. “Integrity”. “Collaboration”. “Curiosity”. The holy trinity of corporate LinkedIn catechism.
And look, I am not taking a swing at Demi. She sounds like she can actually do the job. That is the point. Cummins is not showing you her because they suddenly discovered honesty. They are showing you her because it’s useful.
A Black woman engineer in the lead image is a PR gift. It’s the kind of story that lets Cummins signal “progress” without proving any. It’s diversity as a mood board. It’s representation as a buffer layer.
So yes, congratulations on employing a talented Black woman in Columbus.
Now do the bit you never do. Confirm the pay.
If Cummins loves diversity so much, will it confirm the salary of a Cummins India operator on the production floor? Not the glossy career-path “opportunity”. The actual number. The one that makes the “inclusive values” talk either real or a fucking joke.
Because diversity theatre is cheap. Wages are not.
ConExpo And The Gambling Table
Second drop is ConExpo. “Advanced power solutions”. Trade show language. Booth numbers. Staged talks. Marketing choreography.
Cummins wants you picturing innovation. Future power. Clean tech. Serious engineers. Serious plans.
But read the content and you can see what’s really being sold. The same old portfolio, dressed up as “choice”.
They will be showing a diesel pickup engine. They will be showing a generator. They will be talking about hybrids and hydrogen and “transition”. They will be smiling at you from behind a display while the business model stays nailed to the floor.
It’s a convention, sure. But it also fits the theme.
Because Cummins loves a room where everyone is gambling with someone else’s lungs. Everyone nods. Everyone sells. Everyone pretends the chips are not soaked in exhaust.
HELM And The Lego Future
Third drop is the HELM platform piece. This is Cummins doing that special kind of wank they reserve for engineers and procurement people.
“Platform”. “Modular”. “Scalable”. “Common architecture”.
Translation: we are building diesel like Lego now, so you can buy the same bastard in different outfits.
They talk about packaging. Aftertreatment. Multiple ratings. Heavy-duty applications. Off-highway. A neat little buffet of “solutions” for anyone who needs dependable power.
And here comes the trick. They will slide in the phrase “fuel agnostic” like it’s a magic spell.
Fuel agnostic usually means “we’ll take your money in any currency as long as the engine still ends up burning something”.
Also, small detail, but you cannot make this shit up. The piece prints a torque figure as “1,1650 lb-ft”.
What is that? New maths? A typo? A cry for help?
If you are going to sell “dependability”, at least get the fucking numbers right.
The Technical Bits They Hope You Skim Past
Cummins writes technical content like it is a lullaby.
If you are not careful, you start respecting it just because it has acronyms.
Yes, controls software matters.
Yes, emissions compliance is complex.
Yes, packaging aftertreatment is a pain.
Yes, modular platforms reduce cost and speed up deployment.
All true. And none of it answers the moral question.
What is all this engineering in service of?
A cleaner future? Or a more efficient way to keep selling the same old combustion empire while the PR team chants “transition” in the background?
The Ridiculous Bits They Want You To Swallow
This is the Cummins newsroom formula when scrutiny is inconvenient.
Human story to soften you.
Trade show to impress you.
Platform piece to bore you into submission.
And if you complain? If you point out that the “values” sound a bit hollow when the reality is grinders, gatekeeping, HR choreography, and the same old power story?
They do not argue. They redirect.
They do not answer. They publish another piece.
They do not engage. They pretend it’ll all just fade away.
Complaints? Send Them To Oscar
We have been out of action nursing our poorly complaints handler Oscar. He is still disarming. Still doing the puppy-dog-eyes routine. Still the soft face on a hard machine.
So if Cummins has an issue with this post – or any no-mark legal team from another company – wants to raise issues about “tone”, or the fact TCAP reads their PR like it’s a confession letter written in perfume, send it over.
Send it to Oscar.
When he’s well enough to bat away your concerns, he’ll be delighted to. I think I mentioned he’d pulled something in his spine. No danger of that happening at Cummins. They’d need a backbone first.
Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project