Cummins plans $219 million expansion at Seymour plant

Cummins Inc. announced Tuesday morning that it will add 290 jobs at its Seymour high-speed diesel engine plant by 2015 as part of a $219 million expansion.

The Columbus-based manufacturer of diesel engines said the expansion will include new warehouses, additional engineering, production and testing facilties, and a cylinder block production line.

Cummins also plans to construct a new office building to house up to 500 employees and build a manufacturing facility for components of high-horsepower engines. More staff parking also is planned.

The company has about 525 employees at its Seymour engine plant and plans to begin hiring for additional engineering and professional positions later this year.

Cummins’ 16-cylinder, 4,000-horsepower diesel engine is about 8 feet high and 14 feet long, and is used in passenger and freight locomotives, boats, mining trucks and offshore oil and gas platforms. The engines sell for about $500,000.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. said it will provide Cummins with up to $250,000 in training grants based on the company’s job-creation plans. The city of Seymour will consider additional property-tax abatements.

“Cummins is excited about making further investments in southern Indiana to support our growing high-horsepower engine business,” Rich Freeland, president of Cummins’ engine business, said in a prepared statement. “A key aspect for choosing Seymour is the support from IEDC to provide for educational initiatives, which will help ensure the availability of a skilled workforce for many years to come.”

Cummins’ latest expansion in Seymour follows an announcement in 2010 in which the company said it would add 200 jobs by 2015 at the plant as part of its plans to add a new large-engine platform.