Q&A: Bendix’s Bracht on the Changing Truck Industry

Berend Bracht. Photo courtesy Bendix.

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We recently caught up to Berend Bracht, president and CEO of Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, at an industry event to talk about his first two years on the job in a rapidly changing industry. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

HDT: You’ve been in this position a little over two years. What have your priorities been?

Bracht: I think the first one was to learn the business as fast as I could, not only from the commercial vehicle side, but also the Bendix culture, the [parent company] Knorr-Bremse culture as well, and all of the facilities by visiting as many as I could.

HDT: What were some of the things you learned?

Bracht: It’s a good product, highly enginnered. Everybody wants everything faster, and this is accelerating. I think the service level was very good, our aftermarket was positive, and we had and still have a very high market share in the industry – which for a new guy coming in was a bit of a concern, because you need to maintain and expand it. That’s why we focus our company around the customer 2.0 concept. Bendix was always listening closely to the customers, but the idea was to push it up one notch higher.

HDT: What are you proud of accomplishing since then?

Bracht: We have our highest market share ever. We really invested into the new technology such as collision mitigation and air disc brakes. You never relax, but we are in good shape with our core customers. We also changed a little of the outlook by really focusing on trailer makers. For the first time we are organized by safety solution, trailer solutions, and powertrain solutions.

HDT: We’re hearing a lot about more autonomous driving technologies and electric powertrains. Where is Bendix going with …Read the rest of this story