Expanding its global engineering capabilities, Bendix (Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC and Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake LLC) recently held a grand opening celebration for its new Technical Center in Monterrey, Mexico.
Members of the Bendix Executive Board, key Bendix business and engineering leaders, as well as guests from various Bendix partner universities, business partners and collaborators of the Technical Center attended the celebration.
Located within an existing building at the Research and Technological Innovation Park (PIIT), the 7,800-square-foot center reflects Bendix’s evolution as a global company and a technology innovator. The site helps further expand its North American presence by driving research and development across the Bendix portfolio of integrated products and solutions.
Juan Carlos Mellado, director of product engineering at Bendix – Mexico, introduces attendees to the lab during the grand opening of Bendix’s new Technical Center in Monterrey, Mexico.
The Monterrey-based team – working in tandem with Bendix and Knorr-Bremse engineering colleagues across North America and worldwide – will help advance new and emerging technologies to deliver more value to the company’s global customers and further strengthen its global presence. The Knorr-Bremse Group is Bendix’s Munich, Germany-based parent company.
The projects undertaken at the center will support the entire Bendix product portfolio, Bendix says. The efforts of the Monterrey-based engineering team will help reinforce the company’s ongoing initiatives as well as address the unprecedented introduction of emerging commercial vehicle technologies, including vehicle electrification, automated and autonomous vehicles, and the ongoing search for greater fuel efficiency.
“Our legacy and future are built on the innovation and expertise of our engineering teams that work around the world to maintain a strong and hands-on relationship aimed at bolstering our existing expertise and long-term strategic impact,” said Richard Beyer, vice president – engineering and R&D at Bendix. “Mexico, where our industry manufactures more than a third of its commercial vehicle tractors and trailers, has been a vital part of Bendix’s business for 30 years, dating [back] to the establishment of manufacturing operations in Acuña in May 1988. Today, through this center located in Monterrey, we can further enhance our presence in North America and expand our engineering footprint.”
Bendix’s headquarters in Elyria, Ohio, will remain the company’s engineering and R&D leadership hub. The company also maintains engineering operations in Acuña, Mexico; Irvine, California; Kalamazoo, Michigan; and Vancouver, British Columbia.
“One of the fundamental goals of this Technical Center is to help develop and validate new applied safety technologies for commercial vehicles, increase overall value for our customers and drive the competitiveness of our engineering,” said Juan Carlos Mellado, director of product engineering at Bendix – Mexico. “We can achieve this by incorporating a solid group of highly skilled engineers from numerous universities into our team, leveraging their wide-ranging experience in developing and shaping transportation technologies for today and tomorrow.”
Mellado continued, “We will also develop and maintain a close working relationship with prestigious local universities renowned for their technical experience, such as ITESM, UANL and UdeM, in addition to the CONACYT’s research centers. Our location in the Research and Technological Innovation Park is of fundamental importance in ensuring the success of our new Technical Center.”
Employees at the new center also will continue the long-standing Bendix corporate culture of giving back to the communities in which company team members live and work.
