Nashville, Tenn. — The Cummins Signature 600 engine has won the eighth annual Truck Writers of North America Technical Achievement Award for calendar-year 1998. It’s the second time the engine maker has received the TWNA honor, having won seven years ago for its ESP engine models. Navistar is the only other two-time winner.

TWNA, which includes most of the trucking journalists in the U.S. and Canada, launched the award in 1991. It celebrates engineering or service excellence by honoring a new product or service that in some significant way improves the industry. Whole trucks are not eligible.

The 600-horsepower Signature engine broke new ground with its light weight, one third lower parts count compared to the N14, new high-pressure fuel system, and other features. Most of that new technology is also found in the Cummins ISX series.

The 1998 Technical Achievement Award was presented to Cummins Automotive Group president Roberto Cordaro by Today’s Trucking editor Rolf Lockwood during a luncheon at the annual meeting of The Maintenance Council in Nashville, Tn. Lockwood chairs the TWNA award selection committee.

In his acceptance speech, Cordaro praised the input of the eight fleet-maintenance men who were assembled to help with the engine’s development very early in the program. Seven of them, he noted, are TMC members. He went on to say that such co-operation between manufacturers and end-users is a key reason for the trucking industry’s growth.