Peter Culley, Vice President Aftermarket for PBR International Limited
EAST BENTLEIGH, Australia — Peter Culley, vice president aftermarket for PBR International Limited, has devoted his entire working life to the automotive brakes industry. With a background in mechanical engineering and extensive experience in global automotive markets, including a 25 year association with the North American market, Culley has been instrumental in orchestrating PBR’s global aftermarket expansion.
Peter has previously held senior roles in the brake friction industry before joining PBR where he has spent the past 30 years. During this time Peter has held a number of senior management positions relating to both the original equipment and aftermarket business and has been actively involved in the company’s expansion to its present position as a global brake technology company with operations in six countries including North America.
Your company grew from a family owned brake service station in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, into a major player in the global aftermarket. It seems that PBR was ahead of the curve in terms of seeing the value in being a global player. Why was, and is, this important to PBR?
PBR’s initial transformation from brake service station to manufacturer was driven by geographic isolation. By 1930, spare parts were in short supply and so PBR established a manufacturing business to satisfy this need. It was the first evidence of the company’s innovative culture which still permeates the business today.
The leap from Australian to global aftermarket had a lot to do with increasing our market presence in advance of growing our OE business. The lessons that we learned from these experiences and the market knowledge we gained helped to prepare the company for developing business with overseas vehicle manufacturers.
As more drivers experience PBR brakes firsthand through our growing OE business, we have an obligation to ensure that the brake service industry has access to PBR’s full range of replacement brake products.
While PBR is certainly not new to the automotive aftermarket, it may be new name to some in North America. How are you communicating your experience, history and expertise to potential North American customers?
Our current aftermarket program is about expanding our presence through WORLDPAC with a much more comprehensive product offering and through that we expect to reach a much larger customer base.
The PBR name has actually been present in the North American market since the 60s when we first embarked on an extensive export program through our association with the Repco group. Since that time PBR product has maintained a presence in the market, albeit as relatively niche programs like the PBR deluxe brake pad range.
However, the PBR name will be familiar to many installers because each of our OE calipers bears the PBR logo. Since starting our OE business back in 1984, PBR has sold around 60 million brake calipers in North America. What we need to do now is help people understand the values that sit behind the logo.
The initial communication strategy will center on a series of print ads which will appear in trade publications such as Brake and Front End [a sister publication to aftermarketNews]. These have been designed to tell a progressive story about who PBR is, our background and what we can ultimately offer the installers through this program.
To compliment this, we have developed brochure material specific to the North American market that provides additional detail about the company and also the full range of PBR premium brake parts on offer.
An extension of this information can also be viewed through our North American website, pbrbrakes.com, which contains additional data on product features and benefits.
For our readers who aren’t familiar with PBR, what do you want them to take away from this interview?
It is fair to say that PBR has built its reputation on the development of lightweight and improved performance braking systems. Over the years, PBR has grown to become the largest supplier of aluminum brake calipers to vehicle manufacturers in North America. We have a proud history of supplying OEM product, which commenced in Australia in 1948 and in North America in 1984.
PBR has a culture of innovation that was instilled when the doors first opened in 1927 and still exists today. It is this basic philosophy that ensures that every product we design is stretched to its performance limits to ensure the best results for our customers.
PBR has spent much of its life as a vertically integrated company. This allowed us to learn a great many lessons much quicker and was one of the key factors in being able to make such a solid transition into the global marketplace. With our current global profile our key focus is the further development of new technologies to improve braking performance.
As an original equipment manufacturer we understand the importance of design with regard to product performance. Those who deviate from the manufacturer’s original intent are inviting the potential for sub-standard performance. Our understanding of this allows us to deliver high quality brake components to the aftermarket.
The company has entered into a distribution agreement in North America with WORLDPAC. How did this partnership develop and what does it entail?
Our relationship with WORLDPAC began some time ago with their support of the PBR Deluxe disc pad range. More recently, we discovered a level of synergy with our goals for the North American market.
WORLDPAC presented a very unique opportunity to PBR at a time when we were considering our options for further expansion in North America. Most people will be aware that WORLDPAC is the leading distributor of automotive parts for imported vehicles and, with more than 50 distribution outlets across the country utilizing the latest e-commerce technology, they had the potential to give the PBR brand some healthy exposure.
In the end, it was very much a win-win arrangement. WORLDPAC had been considering an expansion of its offerings into a more comprehensive local brake program. With PBR’s increasing exposure in the domestic market to General Motors, Ford and Daimler Chrysler, we were in a pretty healthy position to help WORLDPAC achieve its objectives.
At this point WORLDPAC is the sole distributor of the complete PBR premium brake products range.
What, in your opinion, is going to be the next ‘big thing’ in brake technology?
There can be no doubt that the next major change to brake technology will come in the form of brake-by-wire. The elimination of conventional hydraulics and the shift to software controlled braking has the potential to deliver a true quantum leap in our ability to control a vehicle’s braking performance.
As a key player in advanced brake technology, PBR has developed by-wire braking systems. We already have ePark park brake systems being evaluated by car companies around the world and are well down the track with the development of a full by-wire system.
As a foundation brake supplier, what advantages, if any, does this provide to you on the aftermarket side of the business in terms of bringing part numbers to market quickly?
One of the key attributes of a market leader is being first to market. Our intimate understanding of the changing market at an OE level allows us to stay one step ahead of the aftermarket requirements. We have more informed knowledge about product replacement rates which helps pinpoint the optimum time for introducing replacement parts.
Some people associate the PBR name with high performance applications like the Corvette and other vehicles that use your twin-piston calipers. How is PBR going to try to change or build upon this reputation in the North America?
Our association with the Corvette is certainly an important one. PBR has been supplying the brakes on this vehicle for more than 20 years and given its high performance focus the Corvette has provided the research and development backdrop for many of the products in our range today.
Much of what we have learned through working on the Corvette has been transferred into other products on passenger cars, light trucks and SUVs. The use of twin-piston calipers is not strictly limited to high performance vehicles but the nature of PBR’s design often allows for a larger disc rotor to be used which in turn improves the brake performance.
We recognize that some people may not be aware of the full extent to which PBR products have been fitted as original equipment and this is one of the issues we are addressing throughout our advertising campaign. The reality is there are more than 20 million vehicles in North America that have been fitted with PBR brakes.
What has PBR learned about the Chinese market via your involvement in that region?
In some ways, being involved in China is no different to the way we approach other major regions. PBR’s philosophy has always been to develop cost-effective manufacturing processes that will produce the highest quality products and, wherever practicable, to locate manufacturing operations in the same regions as our major customers so that we can provide them with the most effective support.
Chinese OEMs are well connected with major Western OEMs and therefore high standards of quality are paramount to domestic China growth. This is particularly relevant for the growing number of automotive component suppliers now producing there.
Our initial focus has been to develop a local manufacturing base to produce components for export. The second stage is to further develop high quality products in support of the domestic Chinese market.
There is certainly a much greater proliferation of vehicle manufacturers in China than in any other global region however, over time, we expect to see some consolidation as the market matures.
The other key factor is the variation in quality levels that exist in China today. Not so long ago many installers would have been concerned about product labeled “Made in China.” Today, many Western companies are investing heavily to ensure that quality levels are equal to anywhere else in the world. PBR only deals with supplier organizations where we can establish joint venture or partnership arrangements to ensure that we can control the quality of products we manufacture in China. In the end it all comes down to making sure you only deal with reputable brands.
_______________________________________
Click here to view the rest of today’s headlines.
