Columbus, Ind.-based Cummins last week broke ground on its first fuel systems plant outside North America. Located in Wuhan, China, Cummins Fuel Systems - Wuhan will be the company’s 13th production facility in China and is expected to begin production early next year.

Wuhan, China, is also home to a regional Cummins service center and a technical center joint venture owned by Cummins and Dongfeng Motor Co. Cummins plans to invest approximately $10 million in the plant, which will assemble Cummins Common Rail (CCR) fuel pumps and CELECT injectors/fuel pumps primarily for the China market.

Cummins Fuel Systems designs and manufactures new and replacement fuel systems primarily for heavy-duty on-highway diesel engine applications. Much of the current production goes to the company’s engine business, with Scania being Cummins’ primary outside customer. Cummins currently designs and machines fuel systems in Columbus, Ind., and has an assembly operation in Juarez, Mexico.

Advanced fuel systems are critical to helping Cummins and its customers meet the increasingly stringent emission regulations around the world, and the Wuhan facility will help Cummins meet the growing demand for its products in China and other emerging markets.

“The fuel system is the key to optimizing combustion in order to deliver products that meet both advanced emissions standards and customer performance requirements,” said Steve Chapman, group vice president – emerging markets and businesses. “As part of our long-term commitment to the Chinese market, we will meet emissions standards and customer needs with locally-manufactured products. This Wuhan-built fuel system will support the on-highway engines manufactured by two of our China ventures, Dongfeng Cummins and Xi'an Cummins.”

Cummins Inc. 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. Cummins serves customers in more than 160 countries through its network of 550 company-owned and independent distributor facilities and more than 5,000 dealer locations. Cummins reported net income of $715 million on sales of $11.4 billion in 2006.