Brembo’s Mexico Foundry Passes First-Pour Test

Brake manufacturer Brembo announces a successful first pour at its new cast-iron foundry in Escobedo, Mexico.

The 269,000-sq.-ft. (25,000-sq.-m) facility will cast iron brake discs for Bremboʼs nearby machining plant. Melting capacity will be about 700,000 tons a year.

Aluminum calipers have been in production since October 2016 at a nearby plant in Escobedo, Brembo says in a news release. The company has invested $131 million in the two facilities located outside Monterrey in northeastern Mexico.

The first pour is a preliminary test of the facility that ensures all systems are functioning properly and is the first step in testing the foundryʼs full production line in anticipation of production ramp-up. During this test, the foundryʼs furnaces were charged and the molten raw material from the furnaces was poured into a mold for the first time. Brembo says all systems in the foundry performed as expected.

The cast-iron foundry joins Bremboʼs adjacent aluminum foundry where the company has been making lightweight, high-performance aluminum brake calipers for more than a year.

Products from the Escobedo facilities are dedicated to American, European and Asian OEMs that are or will be manufacturing vehicles in Mexico.

It is the ninth foundry in Bremboʼs worldwide network and the second cast-iron foundry Brembo has built in North America. The company launched production at its Homer, MI, iron foundry last year.

‟The state-of-the-art design of both new facilities have already made our business in the region more efficient and assures that we are well positioned to keep providing high quality and competitive brake components to our OE customers in North America for years to come,ˮ says Dan Sandberg, president and CEO of Brembo North America.

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