Patricia brings order to chaos

Patricia is from a big family. She’s the thirteenth of thirteen children who grew up in Brownsville, Tenn. (U.S.). “It’s where Tina Turner grew up,” Patricia says with pride. An accounting major at the University of Memphis, Patricia first heard about Cummins Inc. through a community involvement event with her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta. It was the first time she saw a company put so much value on community service — a priority in her life. After talking to a few people Patricia met who worked there, she applied for a materials planner position at Cummins’ ReCon plant. Patricia did not get the first job, but she applied for another position as a materials planner and was hired. Though the position was not in her direct field of study, it placed Patricia at a local distribution center that had just relocated from Indianapolis to Memphis. She liked the idea of staying close to family.

“At that time, I had no clue what [Materials Planning] was, but I thought, I'm pretty smart, I'll figure it out,” she says. Her work was reminiscent of a production and operations management class she had taken in college. “I instantly loved it,” she says. “It was a lot of logistics and organized chaos.”

Patricia realized early in her Cummins career that she likes fixing things and learning hands-on. “I’m a fixer by nature, and with organized chaos, there’s always something to fix,” she says. “Even if things aren’t tragically broken, they might still need improvement or integration.” In her 25 years at Cummins, Patricia has welcomed the opportunity to “fix” things and make a difference in any form.

In her current role, Patricia heads a global team responsible for integrating the Distribution Business Unit supply chain with the aftermarket supply chain. Much of the work involves resolving customer issues while also discovering where employee processes could be improved to help the overall customer experience. She regularly reviews and meets with plants and warehouses to discuss what's working well and what’s not. Patricia then helps teams escalate issues that need attention to give them more visibility with leadership. Today, she’s focused on the future of distribution and aftermarket supply chain as  things  shift from tactical to strategic, which, she says, is about 80% of her current role. 

Combining tactical and strategic work has been Patricia’s forte from the beginning. She speaks fondly of a team she collaborated with early in her career that balanced both beautifully. Having never worked in frontline operations, Patricia was asked to run a warehouse where she inherited an existing “rockstar” team. 

“If ever I were intimidated going into a job, this was the job,” she says. “Systems people, they are experts at what they do. The operations person had been there for 30 years. Then there were some super smart new hires. What in the world was I going to teach this team?” 

But Patricia brought her experience in other functions that the team did not have, like materials, marketing, and order management systems, so their skill sets and talents were complementary. Setting the bar, the 12-person team turned out two years of non-stop improvement work where everyone was learning and making a difference together.

“I remember telling the team that my goal was that none of them would have to apply or even ask someone for their next role,” she says. “My job is not to be the face of this work but to showcase the good work that this team does. Patricia told them, ‘People should start to come and pick you out like little flowers.’” 

Over the next three to four years, Patricia encouraged her team to do things they never thought they could, and, sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. Her team was picked, one by one, to do critical work across the company. “That was when I realized I was graced with a  good recipe, and I should try to replicate it. It’s one of my proudest professional accomplishments,” says Patricia.

Off-site, her most impressive accomplishments come from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and social justice efforts. Patricia’s been talent recruiting for Cummins for the last 12 years. “I’m finding good people, nurturing those people, and teaching them what I know,” she says. Though she’s about 10-15 years from retirement, her goal in the meantime is to find three to five more Patricia’s to whom she can pass the baton. 

“At Cummins, when it comes to a diverse and inclusive work environment, it is the expectation,” Patricia says. “It’s more than the written policy, it’s the behavior that is demonstrated, modeled, and replicated. It’s part of our DNA.”

“Clessie Cummins did a beautiful thing developing the diesel engine. Then, J. Irwin Miller did a phenomenal thing in the 1960s, when it was not popular in Southern Indiana or in most places in the U.S., to support the civil rights movement,” Patricia says. “He helped fund the March on Washington. That was risky as a white male leading a company at that time, but for him, it was the right thing to do.”  

Like Cummins leadership throughout history, Patricia has always had a heart for service. From the Every Employee, Every Community (EEEC) initiative, to the Cummins Advocating for Racial Equity (CARE) program launched in 2020, she’s been inspired by the efforts of Cummins leadership. 

“After the unfortunate death of George Floyd, Tom [Linebarger, Executive Chairman at Cummins] and his leadership team were relentless about social justice work. Jen [Rumsey, President and CEO of Cummins] has been as well,” she says. It was after the creation of CARE that Patricia kicked her own community involvement up a notch.