American Freightways Says Cummins, CENTINEL Helping to Improve Business.

Business Editors & Automotive Writers

HARRISON, Ark.--(AutomotiveWire)--Nov. 7, 2000

In just over six months, American Freightways has lightened its load... in a good way. By installing Cummins (NYSE:CUM) CENTINEL(TM) Advanced Engine Oil Management System in 1,275 of its 6,000 line-haul trucks, the company's economic and environmental loads have decreased. And it probably won't need to change those trucks' oil until 2003.

Based in Harrison, Ark., American Freightways (AF) specializes in interstate and interregional LTL loads to 40 states. The company will run a total of some 468 million miles in 2000. At more than 10 gallons of engine oil per Cummins ISM diesel engine the company runs, and recommended oil and oil filter change intervals at 35,000 miles (56,328 km), that's a lot of oil. And it's a lot of downtime.

"We were creating a vast amount of waste in spent oil and filters, plus it was costing us more money and time to replace them than we wanted," said Dan Umphress, AF's vice president of maintenance. On recommendation from its supplier, Cummins Mid-South LLC, Memphis, Tenn., American Freightways found that, with CENTINEL, it could change all of that.

"We went to the CENTINEL system to reduce our stream of waste oil for disposal from our shops, and because we feel we will get longer life from our engines through better oil additive package management. Besides, it is hard to really know and control where that waste oil goes once you release it," said Umphress, whose team is responsible for drains and filter changes. Typically, AF's engine oil is hauled off to blenders for recycling.

How does it work? Cummins CENTINEL reduces downtime by providing heavy-duty truck fleet owners with a convenient, cost-effective way to extend oil change intervals to 525,000 miles (844,906 km) and oil filter changes to 125,000 miles (201,169 km). The patented system slowly burns used engine lube oil at a small percentage of the fuel rate, thereby reducing hazardous waste. There are two versions of the system, one requiring a replenishment tank and the other operating as burn-only.

For owners and fleet managers whose trucks return to the garage every day, like AF, the burn-only system is best. It has no separate oil reservoir as with the replenishing CENTINEL system, and this reduces weight.

"Basically, a burn-only CENTINEL monitors the engine's duty cycle and load factors, and it takes a small amount of used oil out of the lubrication system, sending it down to the fuel tank," explained Duane Dean, account executive, Cummins Mid-South. "We're basically blending that oil in with the diesel fuel to be burned during combustion.

"It's really a brilliant solution for reducing waste oil engine wear and for cutting back on fuel expenses. CENTINEL can save fleets and owner/operators money over the course of a year. You spend less on fuel and oil. And trucks spend more time out on the road," Dean said. "If you think about it, the oil is constantly being refreshed, so not only does it stay clean, but you extend the service life of your Cummins engine."

Umphress said his fleet's oil analyses and amount of waste are evidence of the CENTINEL claim. "We draw an oil analysis on each tractor every 36,000 miles (57,937 km), and we now find the trends of the analyses are flat-lined, meaning the lube oil is clean and well within our tolerances, which helps us to estimate engine wear," he explained. "What's more, we have less waste oil and dirty filters being sent out to recyclers and dumps.

"CENTINEL has really made a difference throughout our company. Our drivers don't mind monitoring or adding the oil, our mechanics can focus more time on more major preventive and repair service, and American Freightways corporate team likes the numbers we're sending. Besides," added Umphress, "we all like knowing we're consuming less oil and polluting less after we use it."

"Cummins," said Dean, "works every day at leading the diesel engine and trucking industries in environmental stewardship. As a company, we prefer to embrace the challenges the EPA presents us and find not only ways to meet future regulations, but ways to improve engine performance to meet drivers' and fleets' wants and needs."

"We've been working with Cummins Mid-South since we sent our first truck out onto the road, in 1982," said Umphress. "They not only provide us with hard-running, long-lasting engines and engine service, but we know we can rely on them for trustworthy, successful solutions to our maintenance and purchasing needs. With high fuel and engine oil costs, increasing customer demands and stricter regulations to come, Cummins has helped us meet our business goals too. Those engines and people are well worth their weight in, well, oil, quite frankly."

Cummins, headquartered in Columbus, Ind., is the world's largest producer of diesel engines above 200 horsepower. The company provides products and services for customers in markets worldwide for engines, power generation and filtration. In 1999, Cummins reported sales of $6.6 billion. Press releases by fax may be requested by calling News on Demand (toll-free) at 888/329-2305. Cummins home page on the Internet can be found at www.cummins.com.