Cummins West Africa Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cummins Inc., a NYSE (CMI) listed, Fortune 200 company, has relocated to a new bespoke facility in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria. For Cummins, the largest independent diesel engine manufacturer in the world, the move sends a strong signal that Nigeria is critical to its regional operations.

The new location, in the prominent business district between Mobolaji Johnson Avenue and the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which hosts the Lagos seat of power, not only provides better visibility for the Cummins brand, but also easier access for customers and employees, according to CWAL MD Ade Obatoyinbo.

“Africa has been at the forefront of investment by many global companies. The largest African market in many respects is Nigeria. The seventh most populous country in the world, Nigeria offers rich human capital, natural resources, and relative political stability, which are key indicators that companies evaluate for the purpose of making investment decisions,” Obatoyinbo points out.

The facility is a modern redevelopment consolidating three Cummins business units to improve operational efficiency. The design is based on the Cummins Smart Office concept, which improves collaboration across teams, provides flexible spaces that meet the diverse needs of the workforce, and promotes diversity and inclusion. Apart from incorporating world-class Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) standards, it is also fitted with amenities for persons with disabilities.

The 25,300 m2 brownfield development consists of several buildings, or building clusters, including:

• A three-floor administrative building;
• A training centre, which also houses the staff canteen, clinic, nursing mothers’ room, and meditation room;
• A warehouse comprising a separate genset and parts storage areas, as well as a parts-sales offices to serve walk-in customers;
• A climate-controlled workshop with a mezzanine office floor for technical staff. The workshop will be fitted with a dynamometer for testing loose rebuilt or repaired engines, among other modern equipment;
• A fully-automated power generation assembly plant using state of the art flow-line technology;
• A coolant plant and pre-delivery inspection (PDI) test area; and
• A distributed cluster housing ancillary facilities such as a hot works bay, and chemical storage area.

The warehouse can store several hundred Cummins’ gensets. The workshop offers rebuild or overhauling services, and test engines of varying ratings. A noteworthy fact is that customers who opt for Cummins’ zero-hour rebuilds will be eligible for the exact same one-year warranty applicable to new engines and gensets.

“The facility has been designed in conformance with Cummins’ global standards, and will be a model for other facilities in the Africa Middle East region. We look forward to hosting our employees, customers and stakeholders at customer engagements, training sessions and other internal and external workshops and forums. We expect these will have a direct positive impact on our ability to drive value for our customers in Nigeria and beyond,” Obatoyinbo highlights.

The modern training suite consists of four training rooms with audio-visual equipment, a computer room, and a hands-on training area featuring both tear-down and running engines, as well as separate cloakrooms and changing areas for males and females. “We expect to host regular training programmes for both technical and non-technical staff from around the region,” Obatoyinbo elaborates.

Cummins plays a significant role in powering Nigeria’s development and industrialisation, not only through its gensets, but also through its engines that will power Nigeria’s continuing industrialisation. “Although Nigeria is a significant power generation market, as a Nigerian management team, we are invested in Nigeria’s electrification goals. We believe the country will continue down the path of implementing developmental policies that will accelerate the floodgates of industrialisation,” Obatoyinbo notes.

Highlighting ongoing challenges such as insecurity, occasional limitations on access to foreign exchange, and a heavily counterfeit filtration market that poses a burden for the company’s Fleetguard brand, Obatoyinbo asserts: “We believe that the opportunities that lie ahead of us outweigh the challenges.

Specifically, we have a role in helping Nigeria overcome its endemic power generation deficit by distributing not only diesel- and gas-powered gensets, but also auxiliary power technologies, including hybrid systems, to meet market demand. Powered by the very same engines which we manufacture and which power our gensets, as Nigeria succeeds, the numerous other segments where our engines are prime movers around the world – marine, oil and gas, automotive, mining and exploration, construction, port and handling equipment, pumps (including fire and agriculture), defence and rail – will also grow in the coming years. We look forward to that journey and our role in it.”