More recently, in March 2016, the company announced another joint venture, this time with The Olayan Group, which has distributed Cummins products in Saudi Arabia since 1956. “It’s a much more efficient and effective model that allows us direct access to other Cummins business units that manufacture the products we sell and service in the region.” “Cummins manages the venture, using its people, systems and processes, allowing us to increase the focus on our customers,” Rachid continues. In 2012, for example, it established a joint venture with Jaidah Group, which has represented Cummins in Qatar for 35 years. Volumes have continued to grow as customers’ confidence that their Cummins engines will have much longer durability when they use this centre also rises.”ĭeveloping the scope and strength of its distribution capabilities has also been the focus of investment over recent years in the Middle East. “We believe this is one of the best rebuild centres within Cummins Inc and the best in the region – it is generally benchmarked by other distributors around the world as best in class. “All engines of this sort require a rebuild at some point in the life cycle, so we moved away from a workshop environment into a manufacturing environment that has a production line and enables us to provide a complete rebuild in one location,” Rachid outlines. It is also home to a Cummins High Horsepower Master Rebuild Centre, part of a global network of purpose-built facilities designed to provide high quality, high volume rebuilds for Cummins 19 to 95 litre engines. The company has become an engineering hub for the international group, and it has plans to expand its scope beyond the region to support other developing markets around the world. Indeed, despite the prospect of challenging market conditions, Cummins continues to invest heavily into the development of its business in the Middle East. “The oil and gas industry, which fuels much of this region’s growth, is a cyclical market and is bound to recover in the next few quarters and our ability to gain market share will allow us to continue capitalising on the momentum we have gained over the last couple of years as it does so,” he says. Yet, with significant power plant projects won across a variety of sectors from infrastructure, healthcare and airport developments to manufacturing and residential complexes, the opportunities to grow still remain. However, Rachid notes that with the recent drop in oil prices, governments in the gulf region have reigned in infrastructure investment that has seen a softening to Cummins’ power generation business. In general the Middle Eastern region is a lucrative market with widespread economic development taking place across a number of countries. In 2015, to support this, we doubled our win ratio for turnkey power generation projects from two years ago and expanded our engineering group with significant investments in talent acquisition.” This is due to our focus on adding value to our customers by providing engineered solutions. As a matter of fact, the Middle East was the fastest growing region for Cummins’ whole power generation division. In particular, we experienced double digit growth in our power generation segment, a market that actually shrank overall. “We gained significant market share and grew across all segments. “It has been a very successful year for Cummins in the Middle East,” he says. The ABO consists of all Cummins business units, each represented in the region by a commercial leadership team.Įnergy, Oil & Gas last featured Cummins Middle East back in April 2015, and a year on MD Rachid Ouenniche is happy to report a strong 12 months. In 2014, the Cummins Middle East ABO (Area Business Organisation) was set up and headquartered in the UAE. Over the years more distributors followed, until in 2000 Cummins established its first company-owned business in the UAE. The company took its first steps into the Middle East in 1956, appointing GCC Olayan as its first independent distributor in Saudi Arabia.

Part of being able to deliver on such a global scale is Cummins’ extensive network, which includes approximately 600 company-owned and independent distributor locations and around 7200 dealerships. With its home in Indiana, USA, the company currently employs 55,000 people around the world in 190 countries and in 2015 achieved sales of $19.1 billion. The Cummins brand is recognised around the world as a leader in the design and manufacture of heavy-duty diesel and natural gas power solutions.

Cummins power suite