No shortage of challenges

Supply chain struggles join perennial challenges for Cummins' off-highway business, namely meeting shifting global emissions standards and satisfying emerging technology trends.

The semiconductor shortage making headlines largely because of its impact on global automakers' production and profits is also adversely affecting off-highway equipment and diesel engine manufacturers. If the supply disruption - not just for semiconductors but other components as well - isn't keeping executives up at night, it certainly is occupying an outsized portion of their waking hours.

“While Cummins has done a decent job, we have not gotten through it unscathed. I'm spending a pretty good chunk of my daily work now on updates with our supply chain,” Eric Neal, executive director of Cummins' off-highway business, shared during a recent virtual press event to discuss industry challenges and trends. “It literally changes on a day-today basis, where we'll be told that our supply for such and such component is out through such a period of time, then the next day we get a nice surprise. And some days we get bad surprises.”