Annual Report 2012 - Knorr-Bremse AG.

128
Report
Market successes // Commercial vehicle systems
In the case of Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, Knorr-Bremse was awarded preferred supplier status
for braking systems for light and medium-heavy trucks, as well as for parking brake valves for heavy
trucks. In the future, the company is also to supply viscous torsional vibration dampers and air pressure
sensors for the full Daimler India Commercial Vehicles model range.
Disc brakes for Yutong buses in China from Knorr-Bremse
In the year under review, Knorr-Bremse succeeded in further strengthening its position with Chinese
bus manufacturer Yutong. With an annual output of around 47,000 vehicles, Yutong is one of the
world’s largest bus builders. In 2012, Knorr-Bremse once again supplied the company with a large
number of pneumatically activated 22.5-inch disc brakes. The brakes are mainly destined for Yutong
buses over 10 meters long. In the year under review, Knorr-Bremse increased its share of the 22.5-inch
disc brakes supplied to Yutong to approximately 80%.
The brakes are manufactured on a newly commissioned production line at the Knorr-Bremse plant in
Dalian. The new line was developed with support from the lead plant for disc brakes in Aldersbach,
Germany, thereby ensuring that the same high standard of quality can be assured for these disc
brakes as throughout the world of Knorr-Bremse.
Knorr-Bremse supplies systems for Foton’s H4 Platform
After providing an extensive range of components for the H3 generation of trucks from Chinese manufacturer
Foton, Knorr-Bremse was able to further strengthen its links with the customer in the year
under review. In February Knorr-Bremse commenced shipments of pedal units, power clutches and
handbrake valves for Foton’s new H4 platform, the Auman GTL Heavy Truck. Knorr-Bremse is the exclusive
supplier of pedal units and handbrake valves for the H4 platform.
Foton is building the new heavy truck series for customers in Europe and the Americas. The engines
have relatively low fuel consumption and are compliant with the Euro IV and Euro V standards.
The Knorr-Bremse components are produced locally in China at the Knorr-Bremse plant in Dalian. For
the start of production of the H4 platform, Knorr-Bremse supplied 2,500 units of each product. When
production has been ramped up to full speed in 2013, the company will be supplying approximately
4,500 units a year.
Starting with the H4 platform, local assembly operations were joined by the increasingly localized
procurement of components. In this way Knorr-Bremse has laid the foundation for the industrialization
of additional product variants in China, which will enable the company to cover an even wider
market for high-quality components.
PBS is successfully tested in China
Knorr-Bremse’s Pneumatic Booster System (PBS), for which a worldwide patent application has been
filed, solves the problem of so-called turbo-lag in commercial vehicle diesel engines during drive-off,
overtaking and on uphill gradients. PBS boosts performance and enables down-speeding and engine-downsizing
– which can cut fuel consumption.
Parallel to PBS being rolled out as standard equipment in Europe, it was also subjected to successful
system testing and extensive road testing by various Chinese commercial vehicle manufacturers. The
verdict was that markets in the Far East can also expect to see a significant improvement in performance
and a cut in fuel consumption from using PBS.