The Cummins' research and development (R&D) center, located in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WHDZ) – in Wuhan city, capital of Central China's Hubei province – is currently undergoing a major upgrade.
Cummins Corp – with major operations in China – is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures and distributes engines, filtration and power generation products.
The WHDZ upgrade is expected to transform the facility into the firm's largest R&D center in Asia.
As a world-renowned power equipment manufacturer, Cummins' relationship with China began in 1975 and it was one of the first foreign companies to conduct localized production in China.
The company has successfully carried out strategic cooperation with large enterprises such as China National Heavy Duty Truck Group and Dongfeng Motor Co. Indeed, it has cooperated with Dongfeng Motor Co for more than 30 years. Dongfeng Cummins engines are widely used in various vehicles.
Cummins' East Asia R&D Center was completed and started operating in the WHDZ in August 2006. It was co-established by Dongfeng Motor Co and Cummins. The R&D Center has the largest investment of any of their technology centers outside the United States and it provides a full range of technical R&D and engineering services including product development, emissions tests and application engineering.
The Cummins East Asia R&D Center is the first domestic joint venture diesel engine R&D institution, and by the end of 2019, it had received a total investment of $110 million.
Cummins' East Asia R&D Center's new facility will be on a site covering 7.83 hectares and is expected to start operating by the end of 2021.
The total investment will be around 1 billion yuan ($155 million).
The new facility will be three times larger than the original R&D center and the number of benches has increased to 28, including advanced engine test benches, reliability benches and cold start benches.
The new center will also include a new energy power research and development building, equipped with an advanced fuel cell laboratory, power battery laboratory, transmission systems laboratory and complete wheel hub laboratory.
