Bendix establishes brake shoe remanufacturing operation

Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC, the North American leader in the development and manufacture of leading-edge active safety and braking system technologies, has begun serial production of remanufactured brake shoes at its new Bendix Brake Shoe Remanufacturing Center in Huntington, Ind.

The move to insource reman brake shoe operations is part of the company's previously announced launch of its centralized remanufacturing business unit. The unit maintains advanced remanufacturing centers of excellence in both Huntington and Acuña, Mexico. The launch of reman brake shoe operations further capitalizes on the unit's depth of product and manufacturing engineering expertise and operational excellence.

The new Bendix Brake Shoe Remanufacturing Center combines the company's long-established expertise in remanufacturing – more than 35 years' experience in remanufacturing compressors, air dryers, valves, and more – with Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake's acknowledged leadership in wheel-end solutions and brake shoe manufacturing. Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake LLC is a joint venture between Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC and Dana Commercial Vehicle Products, LLC.

"Delivering Bendix brand reman shoes directly from within Bendix is a natural next step in our long-term business growth goals and enables the wheel-end group an exceptional opportunity to serve the needs of the North American aftermarket customer base more effectively," said Henry Foxx, director of Bendix Remanufacturing. "With the ability to offer top-quality, high-performing shoes and kits, we bring even greater balance to the evolving menu of Bendix brand reman and wheel-end products."

"Reman brake shoes are manufactured again, not just relined – a critical difference that makes Bendix the best choice. Our customers need a product they can rely on every time. Bendix Reman Brake Shoes deliver the same high level of reliability and performance the commercial vehicle industry expects from a Bendix product," Foxx said. "Our brake shoes will set the standard for coining, advanced paint coating, precision riveting, and quality control. That means durability, reliability, and an extended lining life on the vehicle."

The OE engineering team at Bendix understands the importance of maintaining the proper shoe geometry throughout the product's entire life cycle. To accomplish this, the company coins 100 percent of its Bendix brake shoes using dies that exactly reproduce the geometry of the original shoe design.

The superior adhesion on the salt spray-tested coating for Bendix shoes virtually eliminates rust jacking, and the next-generation coating used in Bendix Reman Brake Shoes will go even further to stop corrosion.

Bendix reman shoes are assembled with a precision riveting machine to ensure correct lining attachment for maximum lining service. Bendix rivets in excess of 2.5 million shoes annually, while adhering to OE specifications and parameters for rivet retention testing.

The company's high-quality remanufactured brake shoes are the product of reline operations that adhere to the rigorous, continuous improvement Six Sigma-based quality standards required by Bendix on OE products.

Integral to the Bendix reman brake shoe operation is an in-house research and development center for friction testing and development. The company incorporates four separate dynamometers into its robust ongoing testing agenda to help ensure its friction materials meet and exceed market needs.

Bendix has implemented advanced quality systems to ensure accurate packaging, capitalizing on its state-of-the-art order fulfillment operation to enable expedited delivery. An extensive inventory of Bendix Reman Brake Shoes is readily available through the far-reaching distribution network across North America. The company offers field-tested sales and service professionals; a 100 percent ASE-certified field technical support team; and the Bendix Tech Team, an expert technical support phone line, among other tools, for both before- and after-sales support.

"As a premier supplier to the OEMs, Bendix brings decades of experience in the design and manufacture of brake shoes for the most demanding applications for all the major truck manufacturers in the industry," Foxx added. "We don't take that responsibility lightly. In the past 21 years, we have produced more than 40 million brake shoes for a wide variety of OE applications. We're excited to apply that same expertise and proven capability to our remanufactured brake shoe products."