COLUMBUS, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) announced today that it has offered a voluntary retirement package to hourly employees in southern Indiana who meet certain eligibility criteria.

Approximately 700 employees are eligible for the program and the Company will accept up to 350 voluntary retirement applications. All hourly workers in southern Indiana with 30 years of service, or who are at least 55 years old with a minimum of 10 years of service are eligible to apply for the program.

Eligible employees have until 5 p.m. Feb. 13 to accept the offer. It is expected that most of the employees who receive the retirement package will leave the Company by March 1.

“The demand for our engines and related products continues to fall, and despite the significant steps already taken to align our costs with that demand, permanent job reductions have become necessary,’” said Jim Kelly, President – Engine Business. “This action is the next step in our “rings of defense” approach to reducing costs.”

In addition to today’s announcement, Cummins has announced job reductions affecting more than 1,400 salaried workers and approximately 1,000 hourly workers worldwide since the beginning of the fourth quarter 2008. The Company also has aggressively moved to cut costs in a number of other ways, including:

Cutting 2,500 contract and temporary workers

Halting hiring, except in rare cases

Freezing salaries for professional employees

Reducing officers’ salaries by 10 percent for 2009

Shortening work weeks at a number of manufacturing facilities

Closing manufacturing and distributor facilities

Significantly cutting discretionary spending

Significantly reducing capital spending in the fourth quarter 2008 and in 2009

Cummins currently employs approximately 2,800 hourly workers in southern Indiana and about 6,200 people total in Indiana. The Company reduced its professional workforce in Indiana by approximately 200 people in December through a combination of retirements and involuntary job cuts, and announced a second round of professional job reductions on Jan. 13, which will result in additional job losses in the state.

About Cummins