The seminar is on braking, which is critical to safety in the use of automobiles, and it aims to gain a perspective of worldwide trends in this field. The seminar will be held at GRT Grand Days, T Nagar in Chennai from 27 to 30 October 2003.

The four-day seminar is to be conducted by Professor Andrew J Day, dean, School of Engineering, Design and Technology, Ford Professor of Quality Engineering. Day is a renowned authority on braking and has published more than 34 research papers. He has also been involved in training many professionals in the area of braking, worldwide.

In this seminar, Day will cover the latest trends in braking technology, particularly relating to issues like noise, vibration and steering drift. Future trends in material science relating to friction material will also be covered. The seminar will be attended by representatives from vehicle manufacturers such as Telco, Ashok Leyland, Maruti, and Mahindra & Mahindra. It also has representations from brake manufacturers like Brakes India, Kalyani Brakes, Mando, Automotive Axles and Pricol.

Says RBL president S Sundar Ram: "At RBL, we felt a need to raise the level of understanding of friction material [in braking] to world-class levels. Also, it is not enough for us at RBL alone to achieve this, but to share the knowledge with our customers as well."

RBL is the market leader for friction materials in India. In addition to supplying to automobile majors and the railways, the company has also embarked on an export thrust, including the US and European markets.

Rane Brakes is part of the Rane group, which is in the field of manufacturing automotive parts. Rane Brakes has three manufacturing units in Chennai, Pondicherry and Hyderabad and employs close to 900 people. Rane Brakes supplies friction material to all forms of surface transport, which includes two-wheelers, passenger cars, commercial vehicles and rail.