TROY, MI —
Every other week, aftermarketNews.com offers an interview with high-profile individuals in the automotive aftermarket. We give executives free rein to express their views on anything from the state of their corporations to recent legislative news to future trends in their niche markets. Here you see what matters to the newsmakers themselves.
Our latest Executive Interview features Eric Rozier, vice president and general manager, Americas and Asia for Honeywell Friction Materials. In his eight years with Honeywell, he has served as vice president for the Autolite Electronics Business, vice president and chief information officer for Honeywell Consumer Product Group, and as director of sales operations for Honeywell Consumer Products Group.
Prior to Honeywell, Rozier held various management positions within PepsiCo and Coca Cola. He received his undergraduate degree from Texas Tech University and received his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He is a Certified Six Sigma Black belt.
Earlier this year, Honeywell Friction Materials, the maker of Bendix brakes, announced that it is closing its two U.S. plants that produce brake pads for Original Equipment Manufacturers. Aftermarketnews.com wanted to know what this means for the future of one of the industry’s major brake manufacturers, and spent some time with Rozier to find out.
Honeywell Friction Materials announced back in February that it was closing two plants and terminating a number of employees. What was the reason for this decision?
We decided to close our Lynn Haven, Florida and Cleveland, Tennessee facilities this year to better position our company for the challenges and opportunities in 2005 and beyond. These actions are part of our long-term strategy to increase our competitiveness. They are important steps in positioning the company to meet its long-term commitments and to ensuring its competitive fitness in an increasingly challenging marketplace.
The fact that Honeywell engineers and manufactures friction materials for the OEMs speaks to the quality of the Bendix brand and has been a significant selling point in the aftermarket for you. Is the company getting out of the North American OE business?
No. Honeywell remains committed to the friction materials business in both the OE and Aftermarket segments. Our Elberton, Georgia facility will continue to produce products for the Aftermarket, and we will continue our comprehensive research, development and engineering work in the U.S. and globally to support both segments. Going forward, we will leverage our global manufacturing sites to pursue future business, to support future OE platforms, and to drive aftermarket product breakthroughs.
Has Bendix experienced any issues related to the recent spikes in raw materials costs, and if so, what is being done? What steps are being taken to counteract this?
Material expenditures are of significant concern to Honeywell, the industry and the entire economy. We are working aggressively with our suppliers to minimize the material cost impact through the use of Six Sigma tools and by sharing best practices. Additionally, we are evaluating alternate materials and substitutes to reduce the price impact that, as a last resort, we sometimes must pass on to our customers.
Automotive suppliers scored a big victory recently with Congress’ passage of the STOP anti-counterfeiting act. I understand that Bendix is a member of MEMA’s Brand Protection Council which lobbied heavily for this legislation. Tell us what led you to the Brand Protection Council and why anti-counterfeiting and IPR issues are important to Bendix.
First and foremost we are concerned for customer safety and satisfaction. The poor quality and performance of counterfeit products could lead to significant safety and performance issues. We have made a substantial investment in our friction technology to ensure that it performs as promised. We have built a strong brand based on more than 80 years of developing and producing premium friction braking materials. This good reputation could be compromised by the poor performance of counterfeit parts passed off as Bendix product, and diminish the reputation customers have come to expect from Honeywell Friction Materials’ Bendix and JURID Brands. For this reason we rigorously defend any and all wrongful uses of our brand names and are members of the Brand Protection Council.
So, what’s in the works on the aftermarket side? Are you expanding your aftermarket business?
We’ve got a lot going on in the aftermarket. In 2004, we successfully launched our new family of semi-metallic formulas based on our OE product development technology. Highlighted as the “Quiet Revolution,” these new formulas benefited not only from the rigorous OE testing, but also from our extensive field experience. The new formulas offer significant improvements in noise elimination and brake dust reduction versus competitors’ materials. We also added a completely reformulated blue Titanium coating on our TitaniuMetallic and Import Quiet product lines, further enhancing the benefits of our exclusive titanium coating technology. In 2004, we also released 195 new friction models, including our ceramic line, expanded several lines, and introduced our new Bendix Global friction models. In addition, we released more than 1,500 new hard parts, and that’s not including our new line of Bendix Select semi-loaded calipers. We are building on that momentum in 2005 — releasing new models continues to be a focus for us this year.
Are there any plans for new products in the coming months?
We are continuing to improve on our ceramic technology in order to make this premium friction available for more applications. This year we are designing a ceramic formula specifically for heavier SUV and truck applications. We recently introduced Bendix Select semi-loaded calipers, a full line of remanufactured calipers all supplied with the hardware and components needed for quick, easy and mistake-proof installation. In the first quarter of 2005, we introduced Bendix Street HP products designed for the auto and performance enthusiast. The Bendix Street HP powder-coated calipers have been a big hit. They are available in four colors, and have done extremely well in the marketplace. Bendix Street HP high performance drilled and slotted rotors (formerly marketed under Bendix Fleet HP) are also doing very well.
How are you supporting your product in the field?
On the marketing front, we have rolled out all new packaging, sell sheets, a premium friction portfolio brochure, an innovative print advertising campaign touting the “Quiet Revolution,” several web-based ads, and an all-new website that graphically ties into our ad campaign. Through June 30th, we’re offering repair shops a free sample of our newly enhanced TitaniuMetallic II brake pads to offer them the chance to try our product. In addition to the extensive support materials for our newly enhanced Bendix premium friction line, we also recently launched new packaging and marketing materials for our Bendix Select semi-loaded caliper line.
On the service side, we have further reduced the rebuilder network from five to three top-performers. And in training, we have just announced an expansion of our training curriculum to include two new classes – “Counter Personnel Product Knowledge & Skills Training” and “Brake System Electronics.” If any of your readers are interested in signing up for these or other classes offered by our professional trainers, they should email Jay Buckley at ” target=_blank>www.bendixbrakes.com
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