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Facility Upgrades Help Cummins-Meritor’s Morganton Facility Reach New Heights
With the help of: North Carolina Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NCMEP)
About
Cummins-Meritor provides components for commercial vehicles across the globe. The products produced at the Cummins-Meritor facility in Morganton, North Carolina, are integral to the supply chain, providing American-made axles for over-the-road commercial transportation. The company’s product portfolio includes axles, brakes, carriers, drivelines, e-powertrains, gearboxes, suspensions, transfer cases and transmissions. These products are designed to deliver optimal performance and fuel efficiency, serving the commercial transportation, fire and rescue, construction and utility, materials handling, agriculture, railways, and defense industries.
The Challenge
“In 2021 a potential new client approached us asking for an incremental supply of trailer axles,” said Cummins-Meritor Morganton Site Manager Kevin Roy. “They wanted to onshore their operations from China but their request exceeded our capacity. We realized we would need to upfit our operations and equipment.”
For help Cummins Meritor reached out to IES/North Carolina MEP (NCMEP) regional manager Chris McGraw. Once McGraw understood the company's needs he facilitated a relationship between Meritor and the NCMEP partner, EDPNC, because they were the organization best suited to meet their needs. EDPNC is dedicated to attracting new business to North Carolina, supporting existing businesses, increasing global exports and supporting onshoring manufacturing worldwide.
EDPNC’s support, response timing and efficiencies in processing have been impressive. All parties worked together well to facilitate a successful outcome. We feel the intent of goal-driven success is evidence based on efforts and attention afforded to Cummins-Meritor through the program’s execution.
MEP's Role
In December of 2021, the Cummins-Meritor facility in Morganton began a transformation focusing on capital investment and production excellence. Cummins-Meritor received support from the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC) to invest in their facility and equipment to meet increasing demands. Bill Slagle, the director of statewide and northwest existing industry expansions at EDPNC, was the liaison between Cummins-Meritor and EDPNC.
Through swift collaboration with Krug, Cummins-Meritor obtained a grant to assist in funding facility upgrades to meet the opportunity timeline to increase production to meet the needs of the onshoring opportunity. According to Slagle, “We worked with Cummins-Meritor to obtain subsidized funds for building reuse efforts such as high-efficiency LED lighting and upgraded facilities plumbing. The improvements were key to attracting and retaining the workforce needed to increase production in a competitive manufacturing community. The organization was also granted funds for training to educate their workforce on new technologies.”