About EBC Brakes

WHO THEY ARE

With a worldwide work force of over 400 people EBC Brakes is an independently owned and managed leader in the brake market, proud of its customers, its products, its success and its people. EBC Brakes produce the largest range of brake pads and brake discs in the world. With over 5000 part numbers for every type of moving vehicle. EBC Brakes are made in one of its two specialist factories in the UK and USA. The majority of EBC brake discs or brake rotors are also made in the UK.

With modern trends towards cheap imported brake pads and brake rotors EBC Brakes leads the world in its technology,quality control, product performance and customer service. EBC product range includes brake pads for cars,trucks and SUV, brake rotors (brake discs) for every rolling vehicle on the planet and even brake pads for wind farms, brake pads for military applications such as the Humvee, various armored cars and even tanks, railway brakes products and all kinds of industrial vehicle brakes.

Types of brake pads manufactured include aramid brake pads, sintered brakes, ceramic brake pads and carbon long life brake pads. The EBC Brake rotor brake disc range includes cast iron brake rotors or brake discs for automobiles, stainless steel brake rotors for motorcycles,mountain bike brake pads and mountain bike brake rotors and ATV brake pads and rotors.

Over the years the brake market has seen many changes and many brands come and go. EBC has also seen many so called “Famous Names” resort to “Branding” products and having them made by licensees in “emerging market” locations. EBC has strongly pursued its philosophy that brake pads and brake rotors or brake discs are safety products and are best hand crafted and made with care and maximum focus on high quality rather than price savings and are designed and researched on an on-going basis in EBC own facilities rather than turning a high safety product into a commodity marketed price point product. EBC firmly believes that saving a few pennies on brake pads and brake rotors is false economy.

"When it comes to Brakes there is one name that stands head and shoulders above the rest."

EBC Brakes remains therefore committed to its exclusive UK and USA manufacturing

EBC has no less than 8 dynamometer systems in its two factories representing over $3 million investment in research along and with its 60 year pedigree of brake material blending you can be sure that brake pads bearing the EBC name will deliver and perform. Environment is equally important to EBC and brake pads made in brand's factories have every possible consideration for environmental protection.

BENEFITS

WITH BUSINESS COMMENCING IN 1978, the company has grown from an importer distributing products from a single van to a multi-national group employing over 400 staff located in three countries and worldwide sales in excess of $100 million and is now known as the FREEMAN GROUP of Companies.

THE GROUP PRODUCT RANGE COMPRISES BRAKE DISCS, clutches and disc brake pads for motorcycles, all terrain vehicles (ATV or Quads), mountain bikes, go karts (or shifter karts) and automobiles.

THE GROUP ALSO OWNS 100% OF THE SHAREHOLDING OF EFI (European Friction Industries Ltd) of Bristol, UK who are Europe?s no.1 independent manufacturer of disc brake pads. EFI has a 50 year pedigree of manufacture in heavy brakes such as commercial vehicles (trucks and trailers), earth moving equipment such as bulldozers and dump trucks, and railway applications. Its products are the preferred choice of numerous rail networks including Docklands Railway, Tyne Tees Metro system, and are specified by the original equipment builder Tectran in the United States.

THE GROUP IS STILL CURRENTLY OWNED BY THE FOUNDER and now Managing Director Andy Freeman who is a strong proponent of British manufacturing. The motto at EBC Brakes and EFI is NOT to import any brake product from third world countries and to manufacture every piece possible in its own facilities.

EBC IS PROUD OF PRODUCTS, proud of their team that work for them, and intend to continue to develop brand's ideas based on British and US manufacturing of quality products for the discerning buyer.

FOUNDED IN 1978, the EBC Brakes Group is still a private company owned exclusively by the current managing director Andy Freeman (pictured above at a customer appreciation evening in Bristol 2007).

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT is the driving force of any successful brake manufacturer and EBC Brakes is proud of its extensive R&D facilities located at its Bristol manufacturing plant which include full chemistry, friction development and testing facilities including 5 dynamometers.

HEADED UP BY STEVE PAYNE, a friction materials research engineer of 20 years experience, EBC is proud to have him back to join the team in 2009. Steve has over 15 years experience in brake pad manufacture and has been tasked with numerous special projects to develop the EBC Brakes and EFI products to new levels of performance and market acceptance.

ONCE FORMULATED, every EBC Brakes compound is subject to conformity of production tests (to ensure compliance with R90 regulation) but is also fine tuned within the R90 parameters to constantly ensure that the product performs to exacting standards.

THE R&D ENGINEERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR RESEARCHING, testing and homologation of not just established production formulations but new elements and ingredients and production methods that can make pads more consistently and with higher quality thresholds.

THE R&D TEAM IS ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR FACTORY TROUBLE SHOOTING and perfecting the production process which includes minimization of rejects and production efficiency.

EVERY BATCH OF BRAKE PADS MADE AT EBC BRAKES is subjected to rigorous testing including destructive sheer testing, density testing, sonar and ultrasonic testing, compressibility testing and friction level testing to ensure that every batch that leaves EBC factory is perfect.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Research and Development is the driving force of any successful brake manufacturer and EBC Brakes is proud of its extensive R&D facilities located at its Bristol manufacturing plant which include full chemistry, friction development and testing facilities including 5 dynamometers. Headed up by Steve Payne, a friction materials research engineer of 20 years experience, EBC is proud to have him back to join the team in 2009. Steve has over 15 years experience in brake pad manufacture and has been tasked with numerous special projects to develop the EBC Brakes and EFI products to new levels of performance and market acceptance.

Once formulated, every EBC Brakes compound is subject to conformity of production tests (to ensure compliance with R90 regulation) but is also fine tuned within the R90 parameters to constantly ensure that the product performs to exacting standards. The R&D engineers are responsible for researching, testing and homologation of not just established production formulations but new elements and ingredients and production methods that can make pads more consistently and with higher quality thresholds. The R&D team is also responsible for factory trouble shooting and perfecting the production process which includes minimization of rejects and production efficiency. Every batch of brake pads made at EBC Brakes is subjected to rigorous testing including destructive sheer testing, density testing, sonar and ultrasonic testing, compressibility testing and friction level testing to ensure that every batch that leaves EBC factory is perfect.

Technical and Research Information

The Freeman group is a highly motivated brake manufacturer and its success is a driven by Research and Technical leadership. As one of the largest suppliers of Premium Braking the group retains its progressive and innovative approach to brake formulations that have won EBC products With a total of 11 technical and Research staff EBC Company boasts one of the finest brake research centre in the world with 7 dynamometers, full time in house Chemists and scientists that are the envy of lesser manufacturers. EBC two Ultra modern US based Link Dynos represent a million dollar investment whilst established facilities at the Bristol organic brake plant can test up to torque levels used for even Railway Locomotive applications.

"In a world where lives depend on safety, Research and Development is the key."

Technical innovation is the key to the success of the EBC (Mountain bike, motorcycle and passenger car) and EFI (commercial, industrial and railway ) Brake ranges. Led by Technical Manager Phil Gorton at Bristol Technical Department and Eddie Blackburn at Bristol research and using EBC aramid fibre world leading technology brake products are the finest available anywhere. Whilst almost all other brake manufacturers still employ antiquated and cheap “Steel Fibre” based technology, filled with dirty and dusty carbon and coke granules EBC and EFI lead the way in CLEAN and ADVANCED brake formulations. Blending with Aramid fibres gives endless flexibility in formulation that is unheard of with cheap bulky steel fibre competitor products. In March 2009 the Group was pleased to welcome back Steve Payne, a highly qualified and experienced research scientist with 20 years of experience in brake formulation. EBC hopes Steves added strengths and ideas will bring another exciting chapter in the Company’s future. In regular independent test EBC and EFI brake products are shown to not just meet but exceed OEM manufacturer parts by a healthy margin in-

• Pad Lifetime
• Low disc/rotor abrasion
• Heat performance
• Reduction of brake dust
• Protection of the environment

Group products are now used by the majority of Police forces in the UK, ambulance forces and are original and aftermarket brake suppliers to London Taxi, Optare bus, Arriva bus group, Washington Metro in the USA, Chicago Rapid Transit and numerous Motorycle OEM builders.

TUV Testing and ABE Certification

There is a very good reason why the German market is not flooded with cheap and nasty friction materials. Regarded by some as protectionism, there are very good reasons why Germany adopts what they call a TUV testing and ABE certification, especially on safety products such as brakes.

As far as brake pads are concerned, the new ECE R90 brake safety regulation replaces the need for TUV testing and ABE certification. However, there are no current regulations in ECE R90 for disc brake rotors and therefore the TUV testing is still extremely important to guarantee consumer safety.

Although essentially a German network, the TUV has branches in many countries around the world and the testing work that they do is regarded as a quality endorsement by many other European countries. The TUV is a private network of independent testing centres throughout Germany who submit their test results to the German KBA organisation to receive a certificate known as an ABE.

EBC Brakes has a close co-operation with TÜV Rheinland Kraftfahrt GmbH for brake testing on motorcycles and cars and has the largest list of ABE numbers for motorcycle and automotive brakes in Europe.

ENVIROMENT

EBC Brakes is a Company equally motivated by its public conscience as it is by its balance sheet. EBC never targets to be the cheapest brakes because cheap materials and processes lead to abuse of human beings or the planet we all live in. The water we drink is our very source of life and is to be respected, harmful chemicals in brakes that wash into rivers and streams are never used in EBC?s products. The air that we breathe is equally important and brake materials that give off toxic gas like Xylene vapour and Toluene (some actually do) are actually nerve gases and are a bi-product of many cheap brakes . These are also strictly taboo at EBC Brakes.

EBC are equally prouds and conscious of the products they make as they are of EBC?s valuable workforce that make them. Next time you shop for brakes, think about the environment when someone offers you an unknown generic named product in a boring box, what is its pedigree, who’s made it, what’s in it. All EBC brake pads are ECO friendly, have NEVER been made using Asbestos, Lead, Nickel or Ceramic Fibers (EBC use particles of ceramic which are harmless) and are also producing brake materials WITHOUT Antimony Trisulphide.

Lets think for the future of our children and the planet and lets not be blind to the dangers of cheap toxic products just to save a few shillings. EBC Brakes has been working for many years with the University of Exeter in what is known as its ELV project that stands for End of Vehicle Life. This project was formed to immediately eradicate toxic ingredients commonly used in the brake pad industry that EBC Brakes has accomplished years ago. Thereafter the project continues to research and pioneer materials that use organic components, a field in which EBC Brakes is a clear leader. For brand to describe the elements used in modern day EBC product would be of great help to brand's competition so EBC prefers to leave them guessing, suffice it to say that EBC Brakes being a young and long term thinker has more ideas than most of its competitors combined in this area of research. Not restricted by low price targets by the OEM builders or greedy “Reboxer” Companies overloaded with desk jockeys who’s philosophy is to sell nothing but part numbers, EBC brakes products may not always be the cheapest to buy but in the long run, they cost you less in terms of lifestyle and the world around you. EBC brakes will continue to do its parts and one day, when the consumer shouts loud enough and stops looking for the quick fix with a product made using child labour and by nations that dumps tons of toxic waste into its rivers and oceans, maybe we will live longer and more healthy lives.

EBC Brakes strives to be the most eco friendly brake supplier on the planet. The Freeman Group as the Company is now known includes EBC Brakes, European Friction Industries, Premier Braking Ltd . The group is an independently owned manufacturer of brake and clutch components supplying under these brand names and is also a private label supplier to many large brake distributors around the world.

Asbestos

No product manufactured or sold by the Freeman group contains Asbestos and they never will. You can be totally confident of any product sold by EBC as not being hazardous in its release of toxic dust of any form.

Other Nasties

The group does not use lead or heavy metals such as mercury or Antimony oxide which was banned by Califonia prop 65 and may be harmful to health and the environment. EBC Brakes through its Bristol EFI factory has been for years a co sponsor of the Exeter University led ELV (End of Life of Vehicles) project for the ongoing study for total elimination of toxic products in brakes and continues to support this program.

Waste Recycling

The group has its own team responsible for waste Management and boast a recycle rate of over 92% of its waste. EBC manages paper, wood, card and plastic waste in a responsible fashion and are a leader in the brake manufacturing world in this area. Even by products of manufacture such as brake dust are recycled, expensive elements separated out and re-used and the residual dust used efficiently.

Energy Efficient

Through a complete conversion of its molding presses to heating by recirculated hot oil we have drastically reduced energy consumption used in manufacturing processes. The adoption of “Cold” molding has reduced energy consumption by 38% over the last two years alone. Brand's ongoing managed energy consumption plan is constantly reviewed.

H&S

EVERY PLANT in the Freeman group has its own in house Health and Safety Officer who is responsible for the well being of EBC employees and the environment around us. Regular working practice monitoring, dust and noise level measurement, working hazard evaluation, waste management, energy management all fall under this Officers work load. The Health of EBC employees is of paramount consideration even down to working hours, respect of break times,canteen rest and washing facilities even an in house NURSE to monitor general health in brand's main factory. This all adds up to a safe and clean working environment for people. Compare this to the “sweat shop” methods of many of brand's competition. When labour represents over 40% of the cost of a product it is easy to cut costs by abusing human beings, this is NOT a policy ever endorsed by the Freeman Group and for this reason overseas licences are a thing we simply do NOT entertain. The next time you are offered a cheap brake pad, think about who suffered in making that product and the fat-cats in between that make all the margin bringing that product to your country.