Abstract
Demanding road conditions, higher speeds, stop-and-go traffic on congested roads, and increasing vehicle weights have imposed to technology to make it possible to stop heavy vehicles more like cars. That is why different braking technologies are under permanent development. Sophisticated electronic control systems like Anti Lock Braking Systems (ABS) and Electronic Braking System
(EBS) all were important means of fulfilling the after market requirements. EBS may also provide the ability to predict when the brakes need to be serviced, or to transform diagnostics to prognostics, and alike, but pneumatic components are still 100% redundant to EBS. Besides, conventional drum brakes are brought to the limits of their capacity. Therefore, disc brakes, and in particular air operated disc brakes (ADB), entered into commercial vehicles with gross weight of 6 to 40 tons, or more. Combination of EBS technologies and ADB versus traditional drum brake and pneumatic logic controlled vehicle enables much better dependability, i.e. better performance in terms of braking behaviour, including tractor-trailer compatibility issue, but also better maintainability.
More and more complex tasks, increasingly specific customer requirements and shorter innovation cycles call for new forms of co-operation between customer and suppliers. Planning and design of an optimum brake and chassis management system for commercial vehicles should integrate engineering efforts with specialist advice and manufacturer's support. Manufacturers can meet customer needs by ensuring high quality of vehicles, equipment and parts. That is how to provide Customer Satisfaction, which is the first condition of success in highly demanding automotive market. For the customer, this means excellent performance characteristics, long service life, reliable spare parts service, and state-of-the-art maintenance procedures ensuring maximum availability of the vehicle and minimum ownership costs, thus enhancing the users competitiveness. New technology should bring immediate cost savings for vehicle operators in terms of reducing direct maintenance costs and time for servicing.
That is how to develop and manufacture global products on a worldwide basis according to uniform global standards. The result must be top quality, maximum flexibility and optimum cost effectiveness.