2012 SAE Brake Colloquium & Exhibition

The annual 2012 SAE Brake Colloquium & Exhibition was held at the beautiful Town and Country in San Diego, California. This year the conference discussed a range of diverse issues by the world's most renowned brake experts, auto manufacturers, and industry leaders all joint in with their views of these issues and the future of the industry. Several key issues were presented including Friction Materials, Raw Materials, and Fundamental Mechanisms of Friction and Vibrations. In each discussion, leading researchers gave their views on each of the subjects. Georg Peter Ostermeyer from the University of Braunschweig, Peter Filip from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Jaroslaw Grochowicz from Ford Motor Company were some of the key speakers at this year's event. This year, there were several key issues that were the focal point of the friction industry. Eliminating brake noise is still the top issue that all researchers are working towards to accomplish, and there is continued effort by researchers and auto manufacturers to resolve this issue. Other key issues that were on the agenda were the implementation of Regenerative Braking into all vehicles. This question was answered in the OEM Brake Manager Panel by the head of the friction and research departments of Chrysler Group LLC, Toyota Motor Corporation, Honda R&D Co., Ltd., and Mercedes by stating that this technology is still in its infancy stage and still has many years until it can be introduced into vehicles at a scale of mass production. In the Exhibition hall, key industry leaders came out to display their newest products. Companies like Link Engineering Co., Dow Corning Corp, Greening Associates Inc., MENETA, Mitsui Chemical America, Inc, MOBIS, RDW, and Wolverine Advanced Materials were amongst the many industry leaders there. The 2012 SAE Brake Colloquium & Exhibition ended on a high note with a Keynote Speech by TV personality Larry McReynolds and his son Brandon McReynolds. The two gave an inside look to NASCAR, its brake systems, and how it was relevant to the industry. Larry McReynolds ended with a challenge to everyone: "What did you do today that is better than yesterday?" The continuing challenge to be better each and every day will achieve the ultimate success. My view of this year's SAE Brake Colloquium & Exhibition was a success; gathering the world's leading minds in this field to discuss their findings and the future of the friction industry. We look to next year's event, and hope to see you there.