Power to see the beauty within

Show ID (00:04):
This is Power Onward, the podcast that unveils how power technology shapes your everyday life. You are listening to Power Onward. What is power in your world?

(00:26):
This is Power Onward, the podcast that unveils how power technology shapes your everyday life.

Kim (00:33):
Picture yourself staring at a generator. At first it looks really industrial, heavy, technical. To some it might seem unappealing, it's just a metal box. But to someone who sees beyond the surface, it's actually quite beautiful. In every design, there's intricacy, designs that power residential areas like malls and grocery stores, even more complex designs that power mission critical spaces, think hospitals and data centers. These are the details that turn those metal boxes into possibility. Hey everyone, I'm Kim.

Tanya (01:07):
Hi, and I'm Tanya.

Kim (01:09):
Okay, Tanya. So tell me a little bit more about the beauty that you see in these products.

Tanya (01:14):
So I think the beauty in our products is quite multifaceted. First of all, they're really compact. The way they're made, the structure is big and bold and robust. But where it really came to life for me was on some photo shoots that I did for the work I was doing lots and lots of years ago, where the technicians would unpack or and disassemble the whole engine. They'd call it a tear down and they'd pack for an overhaul or a rehaul. They'd pack all the bits and pieces and the parts very, very neatly as they always do. And when I was walking through the workshop at the time, there was just some sort of light that was shining through on these parts and they had been recently cleaned. They're nice and shiny, and they became more than just parts lying on the table. They became shapes.

(02:04):
There's actually an artist called Mark Escher. People can go and have a look at his work where there's a lot of ambiguity. And when I do this, one of his famous pieces is actually two hands holding each other, A lot of ambiguity in shapes and forms and et cetera, and surfaces and reflections. So I had a look at all of that and put myself, this is really fascinating. So I dived deeper into that. Took a whole lot of series of photographs on those. The open heads at the top with the bits and pieces, the springs and quills are out. It really was fascinating. So I find them beautiful because I actually know what goes on inside of them and how they all fit together. And it really fascinates me, to be honest with you. They really are beautiful.

Kim (02:47):
There is something oddly satisfying with seeing them disassembled and knowing there's a method behind the madness that you might see. And you mentioned them organizing it into rows, and I do think that's a really beautiful thing. So given your response, it seems like you've got some creative background. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about what you've done here at Cummins?

Tanya (03:06):
It's been a fantastic journey the last 13 odd years as an employee and in the previous 20, 25 years odd as a supplier to Cummins, a graphic design agency for Cummins. So essentially I created the visual material that was needed for the advertising campaigns, billboards, et cetera, branding for over all the years. And through that we had many iterations of the brand. The brand changed quite a few times in those years. We had the sunsets, there was a whole sunset scene, which was, or theme, which was absolutely stunningly every day, every sunset, every moment, every mission, critical, beautiful material to be able to work with the parts, the interlocking gears and things like that. Really beautiful visual material to work with to the red stripe, et cetera that we had right down to where we are today. So I've really been involved in the creation of the visual identity over all the years.

(04:00):
Two examples that really stick close to my heart. Way back in the early two thousands, we did an advertising campaign for repowering of old train engines, train engines and mining underground mining equipment. And we had to try figure out how are we going to bring this breathing new life into the engines back, make that visual connection. So we created a scene of a little boy sitting on a train track and blowing a dandelion wishing for a new engine type of thing. I mean, looking back not, it may have been, it was a slightly cliche, but at the time it really, really did resonate. It worked very well. And the second one to that series was a little girl that was riding her bike and she dropped her bike because she heard a new sound underground being the new sound of the Cummins engine that has now been repowered underground. And she was listening with her ear to the ground. So yeah, that was just two of the immediate ads that I can think of that's who interact around the globe.

Kim (05:01):
Powerful imagery. And I was saying you were tugging on my heartstrings as a brand marketer. It's so interesting to see that you come from a background where you were a creative first and not actually a technical background like most people may think.

Tanya (05:13):
I think that is something I really want to bring home. And one of the things I love the most about Cummins is when I came to join Cummins back as an employee, I realized you don't just have to be an engineer or a scientist or an analytical type of person to belong in a manufacturing kind of company like Cummins is. There really is space for absolutely everybody. There is creativity that can be found absolutely everywhere, and it might not be a FMCG type of campaign, et cetera, but the depth of what we found, what I found anyway in Cummins as a slightly different talented person has been extremely rewarding. It really has been extremely rewarding. And that's one of the things that I was told when I first joined is you can make your career your own at Cummins. And I thought, okay, sure. But honest honestly, that is truly the way Cummins operates, where you're able to make your career yourself. You can make your career your own. If you have a view in mind almost. If you can dream it, you can do it. I'm living example of that. So that's exciting about what I love about being at Cummins.

Kim (06:22):
I agree and that resonates with me deeply because I've had that same experience here and I can still see the bricks kind of unfolding in front of me. So a lot of times people ask, what do you want to do next? I'm like, I don't know. I really enjoy what I do, but there are so many different opportunities here. So I want to talk more about Cummins in your region. I need you to tell everyone where you're based and I would love to know a story or show us how some products are making real impact and differences in people's lives there.

Tanya (06:49):
Okay, so I'm based in South Africa, in Johannesburg in South Africa. Our products are very, very needed in our region. I work for the Malcolms team and for the Africa Middle East region. So our region spans Africa to Middle East to Kazakhstan, which is really, really, really vast. I can honestly say in across the entire region, power solutions is critical and is key, whether that be a generator or whether that be a data center or a train or a boat or a underground mining equipment or normal, huge big haul truck equipments or on highway. So there is so much opportunity in our region and our product is really, really critical because power and utility power specifically and specifically lowering home to South Africa, really, really is a challenge. And I know a lot of parts in Africa as well. Utility power is not stable, it's not reliable. It's on for a couple hours a day or for most of the day. Oftentimes when we are on Zoom calls with partners across our region, it's sorry, we have bandwidth issues, we've got to switch off, myself included. And that is because our power is unstable.

Kim (07:57):
It's interesting you bring that up because I have come across a couple of meetings where we've had to also turn off our cameras to help with those bandwidth issues to help people, but I did not realize that was due to the grid reliability and the grid constraints in your area.

Tanya (08:10):
In fact, even our telecom towers obviously rely very, very heavily on backup power. So I know that was a really big market for us at one particular point, telecom towers, we needed some gensets to back that power up. And of course I'm excited now because we've got battery energy systems, battery, BESS battery, and that is going to revolutionize the way that we are able to operate in our region. Taking solar power, taking wind power, harnessing that and storing the power within our BESS system or and slash additionally having backup power in the form of a diesel generator in Africa, Middle East. Well, Africa specifically, diesel is still widely, widely used. Our transition will take slightly longer than other parts of the world. So that's why I feel passionate. I really wish I've had a magic wand, put a gen set, a Cummins gen set in the hospitals, in the broadcast towers, in the airports absolutely everywhere. So.

Kim (09:08):
I'm really happy to hear you mention BESS or Battery Energy Storage Systems because I just spoke with Aaron Gold about how they are so vastly different than our average household batteries from toys and phones. But now beyond and knowing that, well actually learning that best is able to take power and store it and also distribute it when it's needed the most. Really, really interesting to know. It has a mind of its own to be able to manage those loads and the power that it owns. So I can see that making a world of difference into how people live and how people work.

Tanya (09:40):
Absolutely. That really is absolutely the truth. Our region has become quite socialized with battery storage based on inverters and things like that from solar power or just a plane inverter. But if having battery energy storage systems as a common way that a households or small companies or commercial sectors or the whole industrial sector and more, because I know that they're able to be strung up in parallel and and to be able to provide really large power really is fantastic. In fact, the facility I work at in Johannesburg is going to be powered very shortly by a BESS system if it's not by December, then early in 2026. And one of our regions, Cummins Arabia has only as literally as I think last month installed a BESS system at their facility as a backup power. So you can't sell something if you don't use it yourself. So there's proof.

Kim (10:34):
Absolutely.

Tanya (10:34):
We're using it, we believe in it, customers can buy it.

Kim (10:38):
I want to see how this is installed. I love seeing on-site installations because it is so nice to see our products in real life placements actually making a difference. You'll have to send a picture. I would love to see one. So what I'm hearing a lot is for you, our product does make a world of difference. It does change the way people operate and it is almost like a lifeline depending on when these grid constraints happen. But I know one thing about you, you have a superpower and it's not always about the product. So tell me more about this superpower.

Tanya (11:10):
I love you. I love the fact that you call it a superpower. I haven't had...

Kim (11:12):
It's a superpower.

Tanya (11:14):
It falls. I am going to take that on from now onwards. But I think one of the most important points, when I first started working with Cummins in 97, I was told we are not in the engine business. We're in the people business. And that is the truest thing, absolutely the truest thing ever. Yes, we have amazing product, but without our people, and when I say people, I'm talking right from the very, very first person you walk into at the facility right up to our CEO and chairman. Every single body is very, very, very important across the whole spectrum. Something that I feel really, really passionate about: our people.

(11:53):
As I said, links to what I was saying earlier, you're able to craft your own journey, your own story at Cummins is the fact that we have got so much talent at Cummins. We have got so much talent, but so many people, and it's maybe not just at Cummins, people in general, they're doing a fantastic job. But when you converse with them, you might realize that they're just a little bit lackluster and they haven't realized that they actually have a talent or a skill or an aptitude to something which is very, very, very, very obvious to other people. And my mission on this earth is basically to point that out to people. So, hey, have you noticed that you really, really seem very good at A, B, C or X, Y, Z? And I won't just do that flippantly to everybody I meet, but when that happens, and the most fundamental thing at Cummins is that if you find somebody that's really good at strategy, let's say, and it's identified, Cummins is leaders are those kind of leaders that will then definitely organize and make sure that you land up in that type of place so that you can fulfill and be your complete and total unique self.

(12:58):
We value difference at Cummins, right? We value difference. We don't value copy pastes. We value difference. And that is your talents, your skills, the way you think, where you come from, all of the diversities, not just the sex dimensions, but all of the diversities. And so the superpower I have is just, I dunno how you want to put it, but basically tapping into the people that we have, we have the most phenomenal people. And Cummins is value of caring is so unique. It really is so unique that I feel we don't make a big enough noise about that amongst ourselves sometimes. We all know it. We all feel it. It's like being in your granny's house when you're having really nice food and you have the nice food or if you go, but can you take that moment to say, wow, this is really great. And the caring culture that we have at Cummins is really unique together with all our d and i philosophies and culture philosophies and of course values difference. Put all of that together in a bucket. And we are an employer of choice. We really are.

Kim (14:02):
I can tell it's more than the products. It's the purpose. It's what we can bring out the best in everyone we've worked with. And for what it's worth, Tanya has given me a pep talk once, twice, maybe even three times. And she really does hone in on our differences being our biggest strength. Sometimes I feel like I'm a little much, little different or maybe I stand out too much, but Tanya's like, no, no, no, you're shining bright. And so it takes people like Tanya to really harness the best out of people in all the best ways and to make us see the value that we are able to bring to Cummins as well.

Tanya (14:36):
That's exactly it. Thank you.

Kim (14:40):
So Tanya, I'm curious, aside from grid constraints, what are some other challenges that you face in your region?

Tanya (14:46):
Okay, and I'm going to speak on behalf of, I would say the whole Africa Middle East region. From my perspective as a marketer or a communications person, not a business person per se, the challenges in our region is that it is vast, really it's a vast, vast area. We are blessed in that it's only a two hour time zone, basically from GMT to GMT+4. So four hours across the region. So it's not that large.

Kim (15:12):
Especially compared to Australia.

Tanya (15:14):
Exactly that, really. So the difference though is that and all the challenges that we face or the realities that we do face, and I don't think a lot of people know this is the multitude of obviously currencies that we face across all the regions, languages, dialect of languages, specifically South Africa has 11 official languages, which we don't all obviously use. English is the business language, but together with one or two extra languages with that Chinese, Portuguese, French, Arabic, and Russian. So that is one really big point that needs to be considered.

(15:51):
And then of course, I'm sure the whole world faces that too, but different holidays across the region where people might be having a national day in Nigeria, but in Kazakhstan it's business as usual. And for us that trade across the same region the whole time, it's great. It flexes our diversity thinking, if I can put it like that brain to say, okay, are they working today? Is it a public holiday? What is the situation? We haven't even got into cultures, religions, all of that stuff across the regions. It's fascinating. I love it. It's such a rich, rich, rich tapestry. That's the best way I can describe it. It's a rich tapestry of cultures, foods, landscapes, colors for people that haven't been to our region.

(16:36):
I would just want to be a little small advocate and say, come you, you'll be very, very surprised as to the way things are here. It's different. It's really, really different. As our regional leader Thierry Pimi, he is a native to Africa and he's from the Cameroon, and he often says that you can't imagine what living in Africa is like because he's a US citizen. He's like, you cannot imagine what living in Africa is like. So in a good way, it is good. I'd love for people to come and have a look and see what goes on here.

Kim (17:07):
Yes, we'll have to schedule some type of interactive tour that you can lead us through in the interim, because I do want to see, and I like how you positioned that. You said you're developing your diversity brain and then you're training and constantly flexing the diversity muscle and then the beautiful visual of the tapestry where everything is woven in together, but there's distinct differences in every detail. So given the myriad of constraints and challenges that you have just described, why should people reach out or contact Cummins?

Tanya (17:38):
Let's just go with the product first of all, because our product is really, really robust. It's brilliant. It's over a hundred years old, as we all know, lots and lots of innovation, technology development that is in there. But one of the things that isn't spoken about often I don't think, is the fact that our engines are customizable. And when I first became involved with Cummins, that was one of the top selling points that the business development leader was explaining to me is you can customize the engine to operate at different types of terrains long, there's a drive or up and down to the coast or mountainous or whatever. So that's one of the points. I know our warranty system is really, really, really very good. And also, once an engine has been reconditioned, it does reset back to its factory warranty. So to me, those are just three top, top things of our products that are amazing, let alone the move towards destination zero, where the transition that we are busy going through and developing for the plan that's in place, and the engines, the helm engines, all of these things are really, really, really, I would say phenomenal.

(18:43):
And I'm very excited to see how we are able to transition all of those changing technologies together with the way the world's changing at the rate and where you find your customer. We change with the rate at which we find our customer at. But let's go to the people. Cummins people are very, very, very committed. One thing I've noticed is that Cummins colleagues form relationships or partnerships with the customers. I've really seen this over the longest amount of years where long-term relationships are formed and partnerships with our customers and people stay at Cummins. You'll find people staying at Cummins from being a technician when they start right up until when they retire and they're in their sixties. I've seen that across and I know why. I'm on the inside. I know why. Is every day fabulous? Not every single day, but most days. Most days. So to be real, our people are committed, they're dependable, they're committed, and they're dependable. That's why people should contact us. Test us.

Kim (19:46):
That was lovely. So Tanya, before we wrap, what's one thing that you really want to leave our listeners with?

Tanya (19:54):
I think the one thing I'd really, really like to leave people with is trust yourself. Believe in yourself. And if there is something that you would love to do and you're not currently doing it and it can add value to Cummins, then speak up. Talk to somebody, find that something. Because if you can do something that doesn't feel like work to you, but you're adding value and you will automatically be good at that. Something we all win. And Cummins wants people to be really happy in their jobs and in their roles and feel like they're making a really wonderful contribution. So I want to say to people, take five minutes, sit down, think am I doing what I love doing? If not, let's talk about why not just take five minutes and think about who you are and how you can really make a difference to our organization.

Kim (20:49):
Well Tanya, it's been lovely talking to you today. I can see that we're powered by purpose in everything that we do, and we love the shining, smiling Tanya, always bringing some positivity and some sparkle to the world. So thank you again for taking time today.

Tanya (21:04):
It's been my honor. Thank you very much, Kim.

Kim (21:07):
Alright, so what's the big idea for this episode? For over three decades, Tanya has been a part of the Cummins story, and during that time, she's learned that power isn't just about the products. It's also about lifting people up and finding opportunities and hard moments and creating a future where beauty and function can exist together.

Show ID (21:26):
Power onward. Thank you for listening to Power Onward. Your support means the world to us. If you enjoyed this episode, please don't forget to subscribe, rate and review on your favorite podcast platform. If you want to dig deeper on what we covered today, check out the show notes for additional links or go to cummins.com/podcast. Until next time, power onward. We are from Cummins, the company that's been innovating toward the future for more than a hundred years. We're no strangers to rapid change, global shifts and economic uncertainty. We want to be your constant during the energy transition whenever, wherever, forever. Power onward.