ArvinMeritor’s Commercial Vehicle Systems business has announced that it has signed a long-term agreement with Liteflex to be the exclusive distributor of Liteflex truck, trailer and specialty vehicle composite mechanical springs. The agreement is effective immediately for North America and several other global markets, and extends the existing agreement that originated in 2003.
“We are pleased to extend this agreement with Liteflex to a long-term arrangement, not only for ourselves but more importantly for our customers,” says Sergio Carvalho, vice president and general manager of trailer products for Troy, Mich.-based ArvinMeritor. “In the relatively short amount of time this venture has been in place, we have been able to offer tremendous advantages to our customers through the benefits of composite technology.”
“Continuing this agreement is a win-win scenario, not only for our companies, but particularly for fleets and end-users that will gain from lightweight composite technology,” says Daniel Chien, vice president of Liteflex sales and engineering. “Liteflex’s composite design and processing expertise, along with ArvinMeritor’s sales and marketing presence and undercarriage engineering expertise, have proven to be a great fit.”
Going forward, the two companies will jointly develop integrated composite suspension modules and systems to address the need for lighter-weight and better-riding suspensions. A prime example of this is the SimilAir composite trailer spring, which has been successfully field-tested in more than 100 trailers since August 2004, and will be launched early next year. The collaboration between ArvinMeritor and Liteflex also will provide the opportunity to pursue the use of composite technologies in components beyond springs.
“We’ve already seen the wide-ranging benefits composite mechanical springs can offer fleets and end-users,” says Carvalho. “Our combined expertise will allow us to build on what exists today to take composite technologies to the next level.”
These heavy-duty springs will be manufactured at Liteflex facilities in Dayton, Ohio. The company has produced more than 15 million composite leaf springs for European and North American automotive and commercial vehicles over the past 24 years.
