Bendix Spicer Foundation Brake LLC (BSFB) recently earned a 2019 Business Expansion Award from the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce for expansion of operations at its wheel-end manufacturing facility in Bowling Green, Ken.
BSFB, a joint venture between Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC and Dana Commercial Vehicle Products LLC, is investing $65 million on a 130,000-square-foot expansion of the facility. In early September, the company broke ground on the plant addition, which will increase air disc brake production capacity to keep pace with accelerating customer demand in North America. Completion of the upgraded plant – which will total 432,000 square feet – is expected by the end of 2020.
The Bowling Green wheel-end facility produces the full lineup of commercially available Bendix-brand foundation drum and air disc brake solutions. At its opening, in 2007, the plant employed 133 people and occupied 187,000 square feet.
BSFB is expanding on nearly 8.5 acres immediately adjacent to its 302,000-square-foot building, a leased space the company is purchasing as part of the investment. Among other improvements in support of Bendix’s North American air disc brake (ADB) portfolio, the expansion will add a new bracket weld machine center, a third ADB production line, four ADB caliper machining centers, engineering test capability, and an on-site medical clinic and wellness center. Space will also be held in reserve to address long-term growth opportunities, the company says.
The facility is also adding six docks, three recycling compactors, 100 spaces in an enlarged parking lot and a driveway for more efficient truck routing to and from the building.
