The maturity of the company in general was disappointing. Processes were often redundant, poorly thought out and inconsistently applied. Six sigma was the fall back process for everything and many projects were hammered into a green belt format whether it was appropriate or not. Three green belt projects were required before mid level managers could be promoted. I found it insulting that my six sigma credentials from previous employers were discounted.
Less tangible but more troubling was an element of fear that seemed to pervade the mind set of the work force. Everyone from the new grad to the executive director would acknowledge that there were some fairly distasteful aspects to working for Cummins. The ranking and rating system, the hiring binges followed by layoffs, and the six sigma policies were fairly unpopular but most people would only complain in private. A significant percentage of the engineers I met weren't quite sure what they were supposed to be doing but were reluctant to admit it. The nail that stuck up got pounded down (or pulled out). Inertia is a powerful thing in large corporations but at least suggestions for change were welcomed, if not acted upon, at my other employers (GE, Ford). At Cummins, I got the sense that upper management felt like they knew what they were doing and didn't need any help from the masses and certainly not from someone outside the organization.
I had high hopes when I started at Cummins. By the time I left I felt like I was waking up from a bad dream. It just isn't a place for an ambitious experienced professional to work.
