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RUN WITH MAX – MERITOR

SPONSORED CONTENT: Meritor has designed its latest range of MAX premium brake pads to withstand the toughest braking conditions such as in city bus, waste and heavy-duty-cycle truck applications, with quality at the fore.

This year marks the 50th year of Meritor’s operations in Australia. In 1969, Rockwell and Industrial Engineering established a purpose-built drive axle manufacturing plant in Melbourne. Over the years, the facility supplied drive and steer axles to brands like Ford, Chrysler, Atkinson, International, White Motors, Leader, Volvo, Mack, Kenworth and Iveco.

Despite significant changes in the global heavy vehicle market Meritor has continued to supply parts to some of the world’s biggest heavy vehicle names – including Kenworth, Volvo, Mack, Isuzu, Iveco, Western Star and Freightliner – first as part of Rockwell International, then as Arvin Meritor, and eventually under the Meritor banner.

Today, Meritor is a global leader in braking systems for heavy-duty trucks, trailers and buses. It supplies a huge range of callipers, drum brakes, pads and brake shoes to original equipment truck manufacturers, both locally and globally.

The company recently celebrated the production of 100 million brake shoes in North America and is responsible for almost half the aftermarket brake shoes supplied to that market. As a result, Meritor is a trusted name in the industry and a major player in global braking systems, it states.

“Off the back of Meritor’s 110-year legacy, we are delighted to be celebrating 50 years in Australia, reflecting the brand’s heritage and our dedication to the commercial vehicle transportation industry in this country, which has some of the most demanding on- and off-highway applications globally,” Meritor Australia managing director David Cole said.

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AUSTRALIAN SITES

Meritor has two sites in Australia – an assembly facility in Sunshine, and an aftermarket parts distribution warehouse and brake shoe kit riveting facility based in Derrimut, Victoria.

Established in 2010, the Derrimut facility specialises in aftermarket (Euclid, Meritor) and genuine (Meritor Genuine) brand offerings, with over 1,500 stocked items and 10,000 active parts on site at any time.

Meanwhile, the 10,000 metre square manufacturing facility in Sunshine serves as a semi-finishing and assembly plant, which dispatches steer axles, differentials, axle assemblies, drive axles and brake components using a just-in-time lean process, it explains.

Meritor Australia continues to make significant investments in local manufacturing expertise. It recently added capability to build and balance drivelines at the Sunshine facility as it looks to gain better in-house quality control and improve capabilities to support local customer demand and diversification in off-highway segments, it says. 

While Meritor Australia has traditionally focused on the truck and associated aftermarket segments, it also has an extensive and proven product portfolio globally in bus, trailer, industrial, off-highway, mining, agriculture, material handling and defence.

Meritor Australia’s operations have continued to adapt to changing global dynamics and advancements in technology. The company is well-known for its extensive range of heavy-duty truck axles and remains a trusted supplier of tandem and tri-drive axles, steer axles, drivelines, S-cam brakes, brake drums, air disc brakes and brake pads. Meritor uses its global reach to both manufacture and source a range of quality products that are then tailored to suit Australian conditions.

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MERITOR MAX PADS

The MAX premium brake pads are the latest addition to Meritor Australia’s product line-up. They represent the next step-up in performance and durability from Meritor’s popular MDP3000 standard series. The MAX pads are designed especially for applications with high brake usage and high brake temperatures such city buses, garbage trucks, coaches and frequent start-stop truck applications.

“Europe has had a lot of success introducing the MAX pad range, so we’ve decided to bring it to the Australian market because we feel there’s also opportunity here, particularly among high-usage waste truck and bus fleets,” Meritor Australia disc brake product manager Patrick Jose said.

“Customers who don’t want to compromise on performance now have access to a product that can also significantly lower their ongoing owning and operating costs. Plus they also have the peace of mind of knowing they’re fitting a quality product from an original equipment (OE) supplier.”

Quality is always at the forefront of Meritor’s philosophy. To ensure this, the proprietary Meritor M550 friction material used in the MAX pads was tested at both the Meritor testing and prototype laboratory in Cameri, Italy, as well as an independent laboratory. This revealed an outstanding friction coefficient and low wear levels of both pad and rotor when compared with both original and aftermarket products. In fact, the MAX pads so far exceeded the ECER90 requirement in Europe that Meritor refers to their performance as ‘R90 plus’.

Other features that enable the MAX pads to cope with consistent hot brake temperatures of up to 500 degrees Celsius include a thick backing plate with wire mesh securing the pad and preventing separation under high shear load applications. Each MAX pad is also hard stamped with ‘MAX’ and the last three digits of the application number, as well a batch code and date for easy identification, complete traceability and customer’s peace of mind, it explains.

The MAX pad range will be available in Australia through Meritor’s extensive network of aftermarket and OEM partners from September, 2020.

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FUTURE OUTLOOK

Meritor Australia plans to further boost its longstanding presence in the on-highway and aftermarket segments through leading technology, innovation, reliability, and customer service and support. Meritor offers excellent customer support through its dedicated customer service and technical support representatives in Melbourne, and national sales coverage with its experienced team of field sales representatives servicing both OE truck sales and aftermarket.

“As we look to the future we will be offering a wider array of differentiated products and solutions to customers. It will strengthen our capability to continue to invest and produce locally and will see expansion of our aftermarket distribution centre and capability, with a more comprehensive range of products to meet customer needs for every stage of vehicle ownership through our ‘Good, Better, Best’ tiered offering,” Cole said.

“We have and will continue with a number of new product developments tailored for unique Australian applications. We will continue to invest in our people to ensure we can exceed our customer expectations and help them stay a step ahead in their businesses for the next 50 years. It remains our commitment to be the recognised leader in providing advanced drivetrain, mobility, braking and aftermarket solutions for the local industry,” he said.

Photography: courtesy Meritor

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