There's no masking it, Corrine is making the most of her short time with Cummins
Corrine has only been with us for two years, but her appreciation for Cummins dates back quite a bit. “My dad had worked for the Society of Automotive Engineers for more than 20 years, and I had the opportunity to go on a lot of business trips with him. He always spoke very highly of Cummins. I also got to meet a lot of his colleagues who would tell me about what Cummins was doing, and it all sounded very innovative and interesting.”
Years later, Corrine found herself at Penn State majoring in materials science and engineering, and when an opportunity came up to co-op at Cummins she jumped at the chance.
I never forgot how impressed my dad was with Cummins and its reputation of being a leader in product development and being a company that other companies look up to and look to for advice and answers. I wanted to be a part of that.
After her co-op, Corrine accepted a full-time position, and now she serves as a product engineer for our filtration business in Cookeville, TN. “I'm currently on the heavy-duty team with new product development,” she said. “We’re incorporating new products and we do a lot of validation and testing.”
Even though she had been on the job only a relatively short time, there’s a recent experience that sums up and validates everything she had heard about Cummins since she was a young girl.
People here get amazing opportunities to explore and try new things. There’s an overwhelming spirit of innovation and encouragement to innovate.
One day, out of the blue, leadership reached out to Corrine and another engineer. “We had actually co-oped together,” she recalls, “and we started full-time at the very same time. They said, ‘We have this new idea and opportunity. We want you two to research it, take it, and hit the ground running.”
This took place at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the idea was for Corrine and her partner to use their filtration knowledge, experience, and resources to create scented, more comfortable facemasks.
“People were working in the plant eight hours a day and would have to wear the mask the whole time, so we were trying to make their day a little bit fresher. Aside from adding a fresh scent, we also had some other ideas like adding menthol to make it easier to breathe and adding features to help with skincare and acne. Once the masks were finished, we thought of other applications, like for a cabin filter or a vacuum cleaner – anything that could benefit from a more pleasant scent, really.”
Now, I have my name on a pending patent, and that’s pretty exciting. I don’t know many companies that would give such an opportunity like that to someone just starting out in their career.
At the time, Corrine may have been surprised that she was tapped for such an opportunity, but what didn’t surprise her was that Cummins would step up and use its resources and expertise to help people out during troubled times.
“One of our core values is caring for people and making a difference in the lives of others. That’s probably the value that means the most to me. Through our Cummins’ Every Employee Every Community (EEEC) program, I recently got to be involved in teaching coding to homeschooled kids. We went for a day and brought the iPads and the robots and taught them how to code. The kids were really excited. We’re also partnering with Tennessee Tech University putting on an engineering summer camp for young girls, and we’re heavily involved with Meals on Wheels.”
There are a lot of opportunities to get involved and give back here.
“I feel like I've done a lot in a very short time, and I’m now really blossoming and coming into my own in my current role,” she said. “Yet, I think maybe five years from now I’ll try something different, whether it be in the media team or maybe project management. That what’s great about Cummins. You're not limited to your role or your team. If you want to branch out and learn a new skill or try something different, you can, and the company fully supports it.”
Lauren Cole
Lauren is the Senior Digital Communications Specialist for Cummins Inc, where she focuses on social media, employee storytelling, and employer branding. Lauren joined the company in early 2017 and has a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Indiana University.
