AP Racing increases productivity

AP Racing, the leading manufacturer of performance brake and clutch systems for road and race cars, has announced further investment in its brake caliper production facility with the addition of a new automatic brake caliper testing system. The highly efficient system will allow for a significant increase in both testing and production rates and is designed specifically for use with high specification calipers and carries out both air flow and leak tests. Importantly, by improving the production throughput, AP Racing will be able to continue managing the growth of the business whilst meeting service and lead delivery times of customers.

The new unit, from test equipment specialists TQC, uses the latest test methods comprising of two stations allowing for the simultaneous testing of air flow and leakage. Initially, an air flow test on the bleed nipple ports is carried out to check for blockages. The cover is then lowered to seal the caliper inside the test chamber, and a 3-stage pressure test - low, intermediate and high - is then carried out.

Using state-of-the-art technologies, the testing system can detect sticking pistons on a caliper at this early stage of production and features the latest development in leak detection, sensing pressure changes within the vacuum chamber placed around the caliper. This is in contrast to the traditional pressure checks which analyse pressure changes within the feed line to the caliper. All of these help to reduce the test cycle times and improve production efficiency.

Norman Barker, Director of Sales at AP Racing, talks of the new machinery: “Investing in this new system has had a significant impact on the caliper manufacturing process as a whole. Up until now, we had been unable to test our brake calipers at the same rate at which we were producing them. This automated system has removed the bottleneck from the manufacturing process, and we are now seeing an increase in the speed of production and testing, improving the levels of service to our customers.”

This latest announcement marks a further addition to investments made by AP Racing last year at the manufacturing facility in Coventry.