FISITA, the international membership organisation for the automotive and mobility systems engineering profession, today announced that Jan Münchhoff has taken over the role of Chairman of the EuroBrake steering committee from Harald Abendroth. Both have played key roles in the organisation of EuroBrake since FISITA began managing the event in 2012. Münchhoff has been working in high level positions in the field of brake and chassis development since 1996 and is currently responsible within Audi for the development of chassis characteristics, wheels, tires and tire pressure monitoring systems. The handover of the Chairman role happened during the EuroBrake Steering Committee held on 8 July 2020.
Abendroth has led the committee while EuroBrake has grown from over 50 exhibitors and 660 delegates from more than 15 countries in 2012 with 96 papers presented. In 2019, over 100 exhibitors, 1,200 delegates from more than 40 countries gathered in Dresden with 146 papers presented. 2020 was expected to grow further until the arrival of coronavirus and the cancellation of the physical event. EuroBrake has been held in Dresden five times, and in Lille, France in 2014; in Milan, Italy in 2016; and in The Hague, Netherlands in 2018. EuroBrake 2020 was due to be held in Barcelona, Spain.
The transition of position has progressed during the development of the 2020 event and a formal handover was planned to thank Abendroth and welcome Münchhoff. We hope Abendroth and everyone else in the community will be able to attend the next physical event, planned for 2021, and we will be able to recognise his contribution then.
”I’m thankful to Harald for his dedication, his determination, and strong leadership. Certainly in the time that I’ve known Harald, he has been a great ally, supporter and challenger to ensure that we get the best outcomes for EuroBrake” said Chris Mason, FISITA CEO. “I’m delighted to have been asked to inform you all that the new EuroBrake Chairman is Audi’s Jan Münchhoff. Having known Jan for a long time, I feel that he’s absolutely the right appointment at this time to succeed Harald and take EuroBrake on to its next phase of development.”
”I’m really delighted to take on the Chairman position now from Harald Abendroth.” Said Münchhoff in a video recorded remotely to mark the occasion. “I have been part of the braking word almost continuously since 1995. I’ve been active in EuroBrake organization since we started thinking about the first EuroBrake conference and I really enjoyed working on the steering committee every year.”
FISITA will launch a new EuroBrake website in August with a directory of the companies that have attended EuroBrake since 2012 and there will be a number of papers and presentations made available throughout August. This site will enable the community to continue knowledge sharing and developing networks while we develop the plan for EuroBrake 2021. Please visit EuroBrake.net to see the new website towards the end of July as we transition and build the directory.
About Jan Münchhoff, Audi AG Director Development Chassis Characteristics, Wheels, Tires, Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS); and EuroBrake Steering Committee Chairman
Jan Münchhoff began work at Audi AG as Test Engineer Electronic Stability Program and Coordinator Advanced Engineering for Electrohydraulic Braking Systems in 1996 following completion of his Dipl.-Ing. In Mechanical Engineering (specialised in Automotive Technology) at Technische Universität Dresden. He has worked at Audi in Germany since then in various positions related to braking, chassis and electronic stability, with a period in the US in 2002. He became Head of Development Electronic Stability Control Systems following his time in the US and was then Head of Development Foundation Brakes, Brake System Design and Parking Brake Systems from 2005 to 2016. Towards the end of this time in 2015 he studied on the Accelerated Development Program (ADP) at the London Business School. He became Head of Chassis and Autonomous Driving Projects car line C/D/C-SUV in 2016 until he was promoted to his current position as Director Development Chassis Characteristics, Wheels, Tires, Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) in July 2019. He became the chairman of the EuroBrake Steering Committee in July 2020.
About Harald Abendroth
Harald Abendroth received his Dipl.Ing. in vehicle engineering at the technical universities Berlin and Aachen. He has worked for more than 45 years in the brake industry in leading positions and as a consultant. He developed several test systems, some of them becoming global standards. He authored numerous publications at international conferences. He acted for ten years as chair of the ISO working group “Brake Linings and Friction Couples”. After passing the EuroBrake chair position over to Jan Münchhoff, he is expected to remain an active member of the Steering Committee for some time.
About EuroBrake
Created in 2012 by merging several European conferences together, EuroBrake covers brakes and brake systems for passenger and commercial vehicles, rail and other areas such as wind turbines. The event welcomes contributors from industry and academia, focusing on creating synergy as a central idea. The friction couple and related problems are common to all – wear, brake emissions or NVH may have different priorities per brake category, however are fundamentally the same. EuroBrake is an equal marketplace of current and future technologies as well an opportunity for networking and social contacts.
EuroBrake has become established as the world’s largest technical event of its kind, attended by 1,200 delegates in 2019, with a significant technical programme of 150 technical presentations and featuring 100 international organisations within the exhibition. EuroBrake attracts a global audience of engineers, scientists, academics and executives from the industries of passenger car, commercial vehicle, rail and the wider industrial sectors. For more information, please visit EuroBrake.net
About FISITA
Since its founding in 1948, FISITA’s mission has been to deliver collaborative thought leadership and support to the world’s automotive and mobility systems engineers. During this time, the range of skills required of engineers has broadened significantly, but their goal to create safe, sustainable and affordable solutions that interact with people, and more recently, infrastructure has not changed.
FISITA is well placed to bring together engineers, industries and academia in a spirit of cooperation to share knowledge, progress thought leadership and advance the adoption of next-generation technology safely and ethically. To find out more, please visit www.fisita.com and follow FISITA on Twitter and LinkedIn.