Cummins is celebrating 100 years in mining by highlighting some of the people that have shaped the company’s success.
In 2026, Cummins celebrates 100 years of powering the global mining industry, a century defined by engines, innovation and a deep understanding of the world’s toughest operating environments.
In Australia, that legacy is evident across some of the most remote mining regions on the planet, from the iron ore pits of Western Australia’s Pilbara region to the coalfields of Queensland. Over the decades, Cummins has supported miners through technological shifts, economic cycles and evolving operational demands.
Yet behind every engine overhaul, reliability improvement and productivity gain lies something even more important who deliver world class service and support: people.
Around Australia, long-serving Cummins employees have built relationships with mining customers that span decades. Their knowledge, commitment and experience tell the story of what a century in mining looks like.
A career shaped by change
Few people have witnessed the evolution of mining as closely as John Juett, who joined Cummins in 1984 as a heavy vehicle diesel apprentice in Adelaide. More than four decades later, he remains part of the industry and the Cummins team as site manager at the Clermont mine in Queensland.
Over the course of his career, Juett has worked across Australia, New Zealand, China and Papua New Guinea, supporting mining operations through every stage of development.
“The biggest shift I’ve seen is the move to full electronic control,” he said. “Fuel efficiency, reliability and built-in protection systems have completely changed how engines operate.”
The scale of equipment has changed just as dramatically. Early in Juett’s career, the largest engines he worked on produced around 625 horsepower. Today’s mining engines can exceed 4000 horsepower.
But one of the most significant transformations for Juett has been the evolution of safety culture within the industry.
“When I was an apprentice, we were going to sites with no hard hats and sometimes working in shorts in the middle of summer,” he said. “Safety was largely your own responsibility.
“Through the late-90s and early-2000s there was a real shift. Companies like Cummins introduced things like lock out, tag out procedures and a much stronger focus on protecting people on site.”
These changes reflect how the mining industry has matured.
“I suppose I’ve been bleeding blue for a long time,” Juett said, referencing Cummins’ historic blue logo with which many long-serving employees identify.
“When you’ve spent that much time with the product and the people, it becomes part of who you are and you grow together.”
Where relationships drive results
For Cummins’s Sam Van Leeuwen, mining is all about relationships.
After joining the company as an apprentice in Rotorua, New Zealand, in 2002, Van Leeuwen relocated to Australia, where he now works in central Queensland supporting mine sites and maintenance teams as a product support specialist.
His role sits at the intersection between customer operations and Cummins’ technical expertise.
“We wear a lot hats,” Van Leeuwen said “Technical support, planning engine life, scheduling overhauls and working with maintenance managers, you become the link between the customer and Cummins.”
Mining operations depend heavily on reliability, and maintaining that reliability requires constant communication and trust.
“You’re dealing with production pressures, downtime risks and big equipment fleets,” Van Leeuwen said. “The customer needs to know you’ll respond quickly and help solve the problem.”
Over time, those shared challenges build strong relationships.
“You see people grow through their careers on-site, just like we do,” Van Leeuwen said. You’ve been through the same situations together.”
That trust is often what keeps customers returning to Cummins year after year.
Shaping the next generation
In the Pilbara, Fintan Billings has spent decades working alongside miners , mentoring the next generation of technicians.
An engine specialist supporting Rio Tinto’s Greater Tom Price operations, Billings has been mentoring apprentices for more than 14 years, guiding school leavers and mature apprentices through the demands of working in the industry.
“It’s about passing knowledge on. These young technicians are the future of the industry,” he said.
Billings’ dedication to developing young talent was recognised in 2018 when he received Rio Tinto’s Mentor Award, acknowledging the role he played in supporting and developing apprentices across the Pilbara region.
Billings’ workday begins before sunrise so he can meet with night and day shift supervisors, ensuring communication is clear and issues are addressed quickly.
“The last 10 years really changed things,” he said. “Fuel efficiency improvements, common rail fuel systems and emissions controls have all moved forward very quickly.”
While modern mining operations increasingly rely on innovation, Billings’ believes the human element will always remain essential.
“Technology helps us,” he said. “But it’s still people who solve the problems.”
Opportunity in action
Kristy Green’s journey into mining helps to demonstrate another side of Cummins’ culture.
Before joining the company 16 years ago, she owned a transport business and earlier in life worked as a hairdresser. When she saw an opportunity to join Cummins as a service administrator in Perth, it marked the beginning of an unexpected but rewarding career path.
Green has since worked in product support roles in the Pilbara, managed the Port Hedland branch, and now serves as mining business manager – major accounts, with customers including BMA, Peabody, Thiess and MACA.
“I’ve been very fortunate,” she said. “Cummins gives people opportunity. Once they identify talent, they nurture it.”
Mentorship has played a major role in Green’s development.
“Joining the mining team at Cummins has been the best decision for my career,” she said.
“I am very lucky to work with some very well-seasoned people, and their wealth of knowledge and their willingness to teach and the patience they have for me has just been incredible.”
Today, Green thrives on the responsibility of mentoring two young women within the business.
“When I joined, mining was still very male-dominated,” she said. “Now it’s much closer to 50:50 in many workplaces.”
As the sector moves towards decarbonisation, electrification and digital monitoring, Cummins is already investing in new technologies that will shape the next century.
Hybrid power systems, improved fuel efficiency and advanced remote monitoring are helping mines reduce emissions while maintaining productivity.
While full electrification may suit some applications, miners are looking for practical, transitional solutions that balance sustainability with operational reality.
“I don’t believe the engine is going away,” Billings said. “It will evolve. Hybrid, alternative fuels, that’s where the short-to-mid-term future is.”
For Cummins employees like John Juett, Sam Van Leeuwen, Fintan Billings and Kristy Green, the past century has been about far more than engines. It has been about building trust, sharing knowledge and supporting the industry that powers modern life.
After 100 years in mining, Cummins’ legacy is measured not only in horsepower or hours worked, but in the people who proudly stand behind the brand.
This feature appeared in the March edition of Australian Mining.