Upon closing, the transaction will incorporate the ProSteering brand’s products, manufacturing operations and its sales and service operations into Bendix’s steering business and remanufacturing unit. Complete integration is expected to take six to 12 months, according to an announcement.
“With the addition of these top-line products to our lineup, the aftermarket channel will be able to turn to Bendix as a one-stop destination for an even wider range of high-quality products,” says Scott Burkhart, Bendix vice president of sales, marketing and business development. “And customers choosing the steering components — as with our existing products — can count on the backing of Bendix’s long-established post-sales distribution, service and support network.”
Bendix is working to ensure a seamless integration process for its customers. “As we navigate through the transition, our goal is to have uninterrupted product and service,” says Dustin Carpenter, Bendix product line director for steering. “Customers should continue to use their existing order and day-to-day support contacts until they’ve been further notified.”
With the addition of the team behind ProSteering, Bendix is adding a combined 85 years of knowledge of North American-based steering gears to further evolve its manufacturing and steering gear expertise — built over six decades by Bendix and Knorr-Bremse Steering Systems, a division of the Munich, Germany-based Knorr-Bremse Group.
The acquisition complements the existing Bendix lineup of all-makes remanufactured products with a complete aftermarket portfolio of steering gears. It demonstrates how the company continues to grow its remanufacturing business, and further develop its operations and offerings, according to the company.
The action also reinforces Bendix’s total approach to the commercial vehicle market — from technologies available through OE manufacturers to a full range of products available in the aftermarket for vehicle operators in every application. “Strategic actions like this help to further enhance the depth and scope of our overall market and product positions,” says Carpenter.
With an aim at shaping tomorrow’s transportation, steering technologies are a key part of the technology pathway to highly automated and autonomous vehicles. The integration of steering control with other systems, such as braking, advances driver assistance technologies (DAS) to the next level.
“Today, we can help drivers mitigate rear-end collisions, rollovers and loss of control crashes via the braking system,” Carpenter says. “In the future, we will be able to provide more advanced features, such as lane keeping, sideswipe crash mitigation, autonomous yard maneuvering and active cruise with braking and steering control as we move forward to even more automated applications. Brakes, steering and engine control are the keystones of future system fusion to drive further safety on the roads.”
