Cummins to Honor Top Technical Innovators

COLUMBUS, Ind.--Feb. 19, 2004--Cummins Inc. will honor two employees with the 2003 Dr. Julius P. Perr Innovation Award, given to Cummins employees whose inventions significantly benefit the Company, the industry and/or the environment. The award, along with recognition to a team of five runners-up, will be given at a ceremony Friday, Feb. 20, at the Cummins Technical Center (CTC).

This year's winners are Joseph C. Bentz and Thomas M. Yonushonis. The pair is being honored for its ground-breaking work that has significantly increased the lifespan of fuel injectors on certain types of truck engines, allowing Cummins to meet increasingly stringent emissions standards while greatly reducing warranty costs.

Since the 1989 introduction of the "ceramic link" - the first-ever high-volume use of high strength ceramics to reduce wear in diesel engines - nearly two million of the devices have been installed without a single reported failure. The link also is credited with reducing wear on fuel injectors by 60 percent. The link made possible changes to the timing system that reduced emissions, but had resulted in excessive wear on previous types of fuel injectors.

"It is a great honor for me to receive the Julius Perr Award," Yonushonis said. "I am absolutely delighted to receive this award and I wish to acknowledge the support given to me from friends and colleagues throughout the years. The implementation of the ceramic link in Cummins Fuel Systems required the assistance of many people working together. I feel fortunate to have been a part of that effort."

Cummins also recognized a team of five employees: Zemin Jiang, Ted Loftis, Dwight Suiter, Erika Motlow and Sargeon Billy Hedgecough (posthumously) as runners-up for this year's award. The team is being recognized for patenting the technology that allowed for creation of a single filter system to permit both full-flow and bypass filtering in a number of Cummins engines.

Since its introduction in the mid-1990s, the Venturi Combo has resulted in sales of $47 million and profits of more than $25 million.

"Cummins takes great pride in the work of its engineers and scientists to keep the Company at the leading edge of technology in our industry. The work done by Joe Bentz, Thomas Yonushonis and the rest of those being recognized is a testament to the Cummins spirit of innovation," said Cummins Chief Technical Officer John Wall.

"The efforts of people like Dr. Perr have helped make Cummins a technology leader, and the work being done each and every day throughout the Company is dedicated to ensuring that we remain at the head of the class in this very important area," he added.

Among its other achievements, the success of the ceramic link also led to the formation of a new company, Enceratec - a joint venture between Cummins and Toshiba whose purpose is to focus on the development and commercialization of structural ceramics to allow them to be used in other products. This work has yielded a number of new applications aimed at making Cummins fuel systems more fuel efficient and lowering engine emissions.

Bentz serves as President and General Manager of Enceratec, based in Columbus. Yonushonis currently works as Executive Director - Materials Engineering at the CTC.

"I was very excited when I learned that Tom Yonushonis and I had been selected as winners of the Julius Perr Award," Bentz said. "There may not be many people at Cummins today who remember how serious the wear problem being addressed at the time was, and the concerns over ceramics were understandable.

"But through our careful work with Toshiba, we knew we had done everything possible from an engineering standpoint to be confident. I'm really appreciative of the recognition for the ground-breaking work that was done and supported by our forward-thinking management."

Now in its fourth year, the Perr Award is given each year in honor of patented technology that makes a significant positive impact for the Company. The award is named for Dr. Julius Perr, who earned more than 70 U.S. patents during his 40-year career at Cummins.

Perr - who is a member of the selection board for the award - will be in attendance at this year's ceremony.

In order to be considered for a Perr Award, the technology in question must have been patented and one or more of the inventors must be an active employee or retiree from Cummins. The Company's Invention Review Committee screens all eligible inventions and sends 20-25 finalists to the award's Board of Trustees, which selects the winner and runner-up. The 2003 winners were chosen from 209 eligible inventions.

The winners and runners-up will be honored at a luncheon Friday, Feb. 20, 2004, from noon to 1 p.m. at the CTC.

Cummins Inc., a global power leader, is a corporation of complementary business units that design, manufacture, distribute and service engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation systems. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, (USA) Cummins serves its customers through more than 680 company-owned and independent distributor locations in 137 countries and territories. Cummins also provides service through a dealer network of more than 5,000 facilities in 197 countries and territories. With more than 24,000 employees worldwide, Cummins reported sales of $6.3 billion in 2003. Press releases can be found by accessing the Cummins home page at www.cummins.com.