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Singh says getting employees involved at all
AWARD
WINNER
BEST opportunity
For replication
Providing lighting, heating and water for the
levels of the company early on was critical.
It didn’t take long for everyone to feel they
had some ownership of the project.
ENERGY DETECTIVES
Columbus, Ind.
daily activities of more than 10,000 students
in Bartholomew County is no small task.
Classrooms, swimming pools, science
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
ABOVE Cummins employees
in Africa started gardens for
children’s day care centers and
senior citizen residences.
BELOW The Cummins
Filtration Community
Involvement Team may be
small but it tackled a big
garden project.
Led by Human Resources Manager
Ashie Singh, the CIT worked with
community partners in Johannesburg and
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and Nairobi,
Kenya to establish vegetable gardens at five
children’s day care and senior living facilities.
Cummins employees worked alongside
the beneficiaries of the gardens to plant
the vegetables, erect fences and set up
storm water collection systems to ensure
the gardens could be watered during dry
periods. Those systems are critical because
water is frequently a scarce and expensive
resource in Africa.
The produce from each garden is
helping to feed children and the elderly.
As an additional benefit, any surplus
produce is sold to generate income
for the partner institutions.
Working with the children was
particularly satisfying for Singh.
“Working with children is very exciting
and fulfilling,” she said. “When we
teach good habits at an early age,
we contribute to societies that are
healthy and environmentally friendly.
“The vegetable gardens promote healthy
and balanced diets and in many instances
these day care centers can barely afford a
balanced and nutritious diet,” she added.
“They would usually feed the children maize
meal and canned beans or fish and often
provide butternut. Seldom are green
vegetables included, both because of
availability and cost.”
The centers benefitting from the gardens
are grateful for the help.
“Particularly the spinach grows and grows,”
reported an official with Hotel Hope, a
center for children in Johannesburg. “It is
truly an investment that keeps on growing.
Thank you so much for being a part of the
Hotel Hope family.”
Two years into its partnership with
Cummins’ employees, the Bartholomew
Consolidated School Corporation (BCSC)
in Columbus, Ind. accomplished what
some thought impossible: produce major
environmental benefits while saving money.
The school corporation worked with
members of the Cummins Distribution
Business Unit and students to significantly
reduce energy waste. The project is now
expected to save BCSC more than
$7 million over the next 10 years.
“BCSC is an extremely capable community
partner that recognizes the importance of
energy management,” said Wes Wheeldon,
a Master Black Belt in Six Sigma, the
data-driven problem solving tool. He led
the Cummins project team. “They were
ready to make a difference and we were
available to assist with data analysis and
validating key inputs for a capable energy
management program.”
Students have played a important role
in the initiative.
“The most effective way for us to improve
and sustain energy and environmental
activities was to get students involved,”
said Adam Ulrich, Principal of the Clifty
Creek Elementary School where energy
consumption was reduced 23 percent in
the past year. “Our student based Green
labs and football fields are just some of
the places where schools consume large
amounts of energy.
The team looked at energy use in multiple
buildings and interviewed local facility
users for a more in-depth understanding.
They identified areas with excessive power
usage and proposed ideas for better
managing those facilities.
Based off the partnership’s analysis,
an energy efficiency proposal was made
to the BCSC Board of Directors that
included hiring a full-time energy manager
to oversee the effort and the purchase of
new, state-of-the-art energy software to
more effectively implement improvements.
The school system’s Board of Directors
approved the plan. In the end, the
major selling point was the benefit to
both students and the environment.
In addition to the financial savings, more
than 2,000 tons of greenhouse gas will
be reduced over the next 10 years.
Students on Clifty Creek
Elementary School’s Green
Team worked with Cummins
employees to look for ways
their school in Columbus,
Ind. could reduce its energy
consumption.
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
Team is now performing energy audits
and promoting energy efficiency while
also leading other key environmental
efforts in recycling and planting.
They have truly made a difference.”
64 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2011–2012 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2011–2012 65