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Power Onward is the podcast that unveils how power technology shapes your everyday life.
From the tech powering your daily life to the innovations driving industries forward, we talk about it all.
Brought to you by Cummins, each episode explores what’s fueling the future and why it matters for your mission, business, and community.
This is Power Onward,
the podcast that wheels how power
technology shapes your everyday life.
Transform the area you are
listening to, power our work.
What is power in your world? Onward.
This is Power Onward,
the podcast that unveils how power
technology shapes your everyday life.
You're out for a walk on a crisp,
clear morning. It's peaceful,
but the world is already
humming with activity.
What powers our world
isn't always visible,
but it's everywhere it feels.
The things we rely on and shapes
the world will leave behind.
At first it might feel simple, but behind
it all are the complexities of power,
technology and even
more complex decisions.
Decisions about how we design
power and build for the future.
Decisions about what we protect and
what we're willing to change. For Tara,
this is far from abstract, it's
personal. As a mother of two,
she's thinking about
sustainability. Long-term.
Tara grew up believing you should choose
the work that makes an impact today.
That means pushing for
cleaner air, cleaner water,
and a strategy that makes space for
both planet and profit. I'm Kim.
And I'm Tara.
Tara,
when did sustainability become the work
you wanted to dedicate yourself to?
I remember when I went
to college, I said, oh,
I'm going to be an environmental engineer,
and I was convinced to be a mechanical
engineer because it broader,
but I never lost that passion.
And after however many
16, 17 years at Cummins,
I finally wanted to dive
into that sustainability area
more, and I got the opportunity
to do that. And I interviewed,
called my mom and said, I got
the job. And she said, well,
you always said you were going
to save the rainforest one day.
It's something that's been really,
really a passion for me at the
forefront of what I do and who I am.
I love to help people,
and so I feel that helping
people physically is a
big thing that we can do.
And then if we can help people
mentally as well, that's even more so.
And then the environment
kind of overlaps them both.
And so I feel like the easiest way for
me to help people and impact people
is to help the environment.
You say that so lightly,
but it is really impactful and all of
these things are intertwined. Tara,
I've seen a lot of updated
messaging around Destination Zero.
Can you tell our audience
what Destination Zero is?
Sure. Yeah.
So we have just gone through our
midpoint review of our goals,
and we did a rebranding of
our sustainability strategy,
which is now called Destination Zero.
So really when you look
at Destination Zero,
it's our commitment to
sustainability and then helping our
customers navigate this energy transition
all while growing our business.
And so that's really where we
marry the purpose of our company,
mission of our company with
the profitability and growth.
Now at Cummins, we always talk
about simplifying sustainability.
What exactly does that mean?
That's a good one, because when you
think of sustainability, climate change,
it can be intimidating, debilitating,
even. I mean, even for me.
So really when I think of
simplifying it for Cummins,
it's about three things I focus
on. It's let's figure out,
when we talk about sustainability,
what it means to us.
When I'm thinking about
simplifying it, it's like, okay,
let's clarify what
sustainability means to us.
Let's explain what we're doing and
then let's connect it to people's work.
So when we clarify it, it's not just, oh,
I'm going to go out and hug a tree.
How are we sustaining our company?
How are we sustaining our employees
and pulling them along through this
energy transition as well,
and making sure they still feel
relevant with their skills,
and then they can adapt to
this changing environment.
How do we sustain our communities
where we operate? That's huge.
And then how do we continue to help our
customers and sustain our customers and
their growth that's going to help us as a.
Company. Exactly.
So sustainability is,
it's simple when you
put it in those terms,
and then you think about explaining what
are our goals and aspirations in this
space,
and then making sure we connect
those things with people's work and
so that they can feel a part of the
strategy so that we can bring them along.
And that's what I've been pushing
for in the sustainability.
Space. That's a big part.
I recently participated in a e EEC where
we were helping to garden and harvest
some different crops
in Indianapolis. To me,
it's so impactful to see that I
think 61,000 of our employees are
participating in volunteering within the
communities to make it a better space.
And it all starts with those
three goals that you laid out,
which understandably it is, you
said debilitating. And to me,
I felt that same way when
my parents had asked me,
what is Cummins doing for sustainability?
Because.
There's so many things you
don't know where to start.
And identifying those three pillars
really does lay it out in a simple way.
Let's talk about decarbonization.
Why does decarbonization matter?
And what are we doing at
Cummins to work towards that?
Oh, well, that's a big question
because we're doing so much,
which is amazing. So I'm not
going to list everything,
but decarbonization does matter.
We want to see our communities,
our company, our employees thrive.
So how do we do that from an
aspect of making sure where we
provide healthy communities, a healthier
planet to allow that to happen,
even when you look at
our company's mission,
making people's lives better by
powering a more prosperous world.
And in order to do that,
you need a healthier planet.
So decarbonization is the
catalyst to be able to
make that happen, to make
that healthier planet.
And some of the ways that
we're doing that at Cummins,
when you look at our products,
we have fuel agnostic engines
that we're working on.
And what does that mean for
our audience that may not know?
It's where you just keep the base engine
and then you change all the bits on
top, basically. And then you can
use different types of fuels,
and that helps our customers.
And if they want to use
lower carbon fuels or
wherever they are in their sustainability
journey, we can help them along.
Meeting them where they.
Are. Yeah, exactly. So it's
really customer focused.
And we have hybrids where we have
our diesel mixed with the electric.
We have some of the things that we're
doing with fuel economy projects.
So those are making sure,
even for those customers that
we have out in the field,
how can we improve their fuel efficiency?
So how did they use less fuel?
Very cool.
Very cool. Which saving money,
less carbon. Yeah, yeah,
I was going to get to that. Right? For us,
it's a win-win because it's less carbon
emissions for us from the use of our
products, but also for our customers.
They spend less money on the fuel that's
needed to carry out their everyday
truly a win. So there's that.
And then we have renewable energies,
which we focus on with our facilities.
So solar arrays that we have
at different plants that
help us to power our facilities and
our manufacturing and manufacturing
facilities. So.
Very cool.
There are a lot of times where we see
commercials and we see all these things in
action,
but knowing that they're in place at
the locations that we work in is really
inspiring. It's here, it's real life.
This is not something that's
future casted, something
that's far along the way.
It's here now for us.
Exactly. And it works. Yes. And it's
great to see it at work saying that, oh,
we've provided this customer
with an engine that was built
on renewable energy and helping to
green that grid. So it's really,
it's encouraging.
It's fulfilling, and I can
see the pride in your face.
We're just excited about it.
Yeah. Oh, I am. I'm earlier.
You mentioned fuel economy,
but I've also heard you mention
something about circular economy.
Can you walk us through what that means?
Yes. So circular economy is also very big.
It's something like sustainability can
be big If you Google circular economy,
I think there are over 200 definitions
of what circular economy could be.
So for Cummins, what circular
economy is is really simple.
It's just how do we use less,
use better and use again?
So when we're looking at even making our
products, how do we use less material?
How do we extract less from the earth so
that we're not ending up having to put
more into landfill or ruining
those natural resources?
How are we're using our materials better?
So when we look at the
production of our products,
the design of our products,
can we say, oh, you know what?
I probably don't need this much
material to be able to make this part.
So how do we continue to
improve our engines and our
dependability in there while
using less and using the material
in a better way?
So not interrupting or ruining
the structural integrity of our
components,
but continuing to make them stronger
and use them better as we move forward.
When we look at materials
within our products,
how do we say, okay, at the end of life,
this can be used again, this
can go to remanufacturing,
or this can be recycled. What do we do
at the end of life with those parts?
It's really those three simple
things like how do we use less?
How do we use better? And how do we use.
Again, there is a lot of thought and
intention in each of those actions,
and this feels like a more
corporate version of reduce, reuse,
recycle the things that we've learned
when we were kids in implementing them
Now. Exactly. Earlier you had also
mentioned the energy transition,
and now we all know there's
no perfect playbook.
There's no step-by-step plan
for this energy transition.
So in a space full of unknowns, how
do you stay focused and continuing to.
Move forward? That's a
really important question.
So every year we have
a session with our CEO
to talk about our sustainability strategy
and other key stakeholders within
leadership, what we are currently doing,
what we have planned for the future,
make sure we're aligned with
the business. And this year,
she said something that
really resonated with me,
and it was focus on your sphere of
influence and not your sphere of concern.
And that is really critical
in this sustainability space,
because I've said before, I
mean, it can be debilitating.
You can just be a deer in a headlights
because there's so much to do and you're
constantly worrying, oh, am I
doing enough? Am I going too slow?
Am I too far in front? Is
this going to way too many.
Complexities that just continue
to layer upon each other?
So really focusing on what we can control.
And so that makes me
think forward to, okay,
so let's remember our purpose.
What is our mission as a company?
So how do I help create
that healthier planet?
What can Cummins do in that space? You
just keep going layer by layer. Okay,
what can we do? What can we influence?
99% of our footprint is from
the use of our products,
so let's make sure we have
initiatives around that space,
and we're pushing forward there
because that's going to help us,
help our customers, help our
communities, help our employees.
So things like that just help
keep me focused. It's like, okay,
let me make sure I'm just looking at my
sphere of influence and doing what we
can here.
That's very powerful.
And I can see that focusing right there
in your influence can help you move
forward with confidence because you are
very aware of all the things that we can
influence. Indeed.
We know Cummins has made a long-term
commitment to sustainability.
What does that look like in practice,
especially when so many
others are pulling back?
I have always thought that
sustainability is linked with
business. And I've said before,
I think people sometimes talk about
sustainability in a way that's just, oh,
it's great. We can save
trees and we can save water.
But when you're in corporate America,
when you're in a business and
you talk about sustainability,
it's great to talk about it in dollar
signs and monetary because it can be very
financially lucrative
if you do it correctly.
So when you look at the growth strategy,
what can we do within that space
to help with the life of our
products? What do we do at
the end of our product life?
When I look at the business strategy,
we have to make sure that
we are aligned with it.
And I think that when you look
at how we are going forward,
how the world is moving forward, how is
sustainability playing a part in that?
And you see,
regardless of the geopolitical
atmosphere across the world,
sustainability is not going away.
So I feel like those are
linked with what we do,
even with being able to grow a business.
If we look at our new
and recon parts business,
what can we do at the end of life for
our products so that we can continue
to grow that space and grow that business?
Because that's a big
opportunity.
And then you look at the
innovation within our employees,
because sustainability isn't going away.
We need people to come
up with brilliant ideas,
and how are we going to adjust?
We're going to have climate
change here causing wildfires.
We're going to have floods, we're going
to have all different sorts of things.
How do we ensure that our products and
our facilities and things like that are
continuing to thrive in those
spaces? Do we need new technologies?
Do we need to think
about things differently?
So it really helps to spur
innovation, I believe,
within our employees and our workforce.
And then it tracks talent as well.
These days,
I think it's maybe a little bit of
a prerequisite to people who are
looking for companies to work for,
to see whether they have a purpose,
whether they do care
about the environment,
whether they do care
about the communities.
I personally vet out those
things. What are your company.
Values? What do you care about?
And I've seen that even from
questions from interns I've gotten,
and they're challenging questions,
they put me on the spot,
and I have to think about those
and answer those and actually take
those in and see what can we
do? This is how people feel,
and let's make sure we're
doing the right thing.
Let's make sure we're driving towards
this purpose that we have so that we can
get the best talent. We need.
That. And they're already
dedicated to the cause. Exactly.
They're not new to this,
they're true to this.
And they're here to help us
get to that goal as well.
Exactly. Exactly.
So Tara, what gives you hope right now
when you think about your kid's future,
the planet's future, what keeps you going?
I would say young people with conviction.
I don't know whether I'm classified
as a young person anymore.
We're always young.
Forever.
Young at heart.
But the people that I talk to these days,
the awareness that they have
that wasn't there maybe 25
years ago or so,
I am so encouraged because they
want to do something and they
want to make a difference, and they push
you. What are we doing in this space?
So I think that is very, very encouraging,
and it does push me. And then
I guess on a lighter note,
just being out in nature.
Yeah, 100%.
Being out, nothing.
Like it.
And then knowing that people are
working towards preserving stuff like
this, that I'm working towards
preserving this, it helps keep me going.
I think that's what really encourages me.
I want my kids to be able
to walk through this forest,
or I want my kids to be
able to go on this lake,
make sure the lake is still there in 20
years. So that's really what helps me.
So when we talk about
sustainability at Cummins,
there are so many projects out there
that we're doing, just simplifying it,
even for everyday employees
in their everyday life.
Some of the things that we've just done
through June environmental month a while
back were really fun. So we
had a no new clothes challenge,
and that's still going
on, and that's basically,
you can't buy any new clothes for 90 days,
and we're tracking what that means for
the environment. How much water have
we saved, how much is
saved from a landfill,
and how much energy is saved? And
that's really exciting to see.
And I think it's something
that gets people who aren't
normally involved in this
space to ask questions and to say, oh,
how can I get more knowledge in this area?
How can I get more involved in this
area? What else are you guys doing?
And so it's kind of like a gateway.
It is a gateway to sustainability,
but things like that,
I encourage other people to and
to put on projects like that,
it's great.
And it really feeds into kind
of like a circular economy
aspect of things as well. I'm.
Glad you brought that up because in the
midst of this no new clothes challenge,
I had to buy one thing. My
partner and I decided to elope,
so I had to buy a wedding dress,
but that was the one thing I bought.
But we'll get into that another time.
There was also a clothing exchange,
a clothing swap. So I think that goes
into your circular economy bit as well,
because we were, not that we
were fending for new clothes,
but it was a really great way to exchange
Cummins gear, like different hats,
different shirts. We all
collect things at trade shows,
we stuffed them in our tote, and
now we're exchanging our totes,
exchanging our cups and drinkware.
It was a really fun project.
And it's still going on. I think it's
going on until I think September 3rd.
So it really makes you think, I said,
oh, I want to buy something for this day.
And I'm thinking, oh, wait, I'm
not allowed to buy any new clothes,
but we are allowed to buy secondhand,
which again, keeps it out of landfills.
And when you look at circular economy,
that is a way to think about it.
But then there are other aspects of
circular economy within Cummins that we're
starting to grab hold of.
It's really a new initiative
that we have within the company.
And it's exciting because it's
really complex that we're trying
to make simple. That's always a
challenge and a fun challenge.
So we're trying to make sure that we
bring people along for this journey and
relate it to where they
are and what they can do.
And so I'm really,
really excited about that initiative
that we've started this year.
And now I'm really excited. Should be,
you always have a great
way of every white paper,
in case that I've ever worked on with
you. There's so much to look forward to.
Yeah. Yeah. So there's
just, if you look at it,
there's so much that
can be done. But again,
what are those things that we can do now?
And then how do we get others engaged?
That's another one that I'll
probably just go on and on.
But employee engagement is a big one
that we've started our sustainability
influencers a few years back,
And now we're getting to the
point of action and mobilization.
So we went from awareness and
learning to spreading the word,
and now we're getting our employees,
our influencers mobilized,
and that means they're out there helping
with progressing our goals and doing
projects. Though people can
sign up for things and they're,
we have extra arms and legs to do
this because you're always thinking,
we don't have enough people. How
do we move faster? And now we can,
because people are getting involved
in these sorts of projects,
and so we can do more. So that
really, really excites me.
Well, Tara,
thank you so much for such an inspiring
and insightful conversation knowing that
the strategy that we are working on make
space for planet and profit feels like
a bold statement, but it's honest,
it's raw, it's true, and it matters.
Yeah, I completely agree.
And if we can get more people
talking about it in that way,
I think we would get
more help, more advocacy,
more everything to just get
us there faster. So yes.
Thank you for your time today, Tara.
Thank you so much. It
was great talking to you.
Likewise. Alright, so what's
the big idea for this episode?
Sustainability is both a
long-term goal and a daily choice.
Tara reminded us that clean air and
water start with design decisions,
smarter strategies and business models
that make room for both purpose and
profit. If you work in
business, start asking,
how are we building for the
full life of what we make?
Because sustainability doesn't happen
later, it happens now or not at all.
Power onward.
Thank you for listening to Power Onward.
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If you want to dig deeper
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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.