MEETING WITH FERODO TENNECO 20 MARCH 2026

Speaker JEAN THIRION with Bezhad “Bez” Bagheri

Anyone who drives through Chapel-en-le-Frith (“Gateway to the Peaks”) will see the large white buildings of Ferodo, the brake manufacturer which has been on the spot since 1902. The founder was Herbert Frood who experimented in 1897 in Gorton with various materials for those new-fangled cars; he came up with a composite of wood and impregnated leather similar to those used on quarrying wagons. Because “Frood” was already trademarked he named the firm using a partial anagram of his surname and “E” for his wife Elizabeth. Ferodo manufactured the brake linings for Britain’s first serial production car, the Austin 7 and during WW2 supplied brake and clutch linings for the Churchill tank, the Spitfire and other military vehicles. Because the factory was deemed so critical at that time it was painted from the roof down in camouflage paint and if you look closely enough it can still be seen in places.

Before long it was obvious that friction and heat demanded something a great deal more robust than wood and leather and for years, asbestos was the key; but it was also a health tragedy, and the downfall of Ferodo’s previous owner Turnbull & Newell who sold the business to automotive components manufacturer Federal Mogul in 1998. Now it’s part of an American automotive manufacturing giant Tenneco, a components pioneer with multiple factories globally specialising in different braking systems from bicycle brakes, cars, lorries and locomotive brakes; you’ll find their products on almost anything that moves including motor-racing where the current 2026 F1 Grand Prix Cadillac team has Tenneco as a main sponsor.

Our speaker Jean Thirion gave us some dazzling figures. Tenneco has 184 manufacturing plants around the world with 60,000 employees. The different sectors design and manufacture (i) critical engine components (ii) safety items such as brakes and (iii) parts to promote performance and comfort. You can’t buy shares in them at the moment as Apollo Global Management, a huge private equity firm, is the ultimate owner. But I’d say, watch this space.

Jean himself is a South African, “a farm boy from Port Elizabeth,” whose father was a blacksmith; he attended Nelson Mandela University and has been in the UK since October 2022. His first job at home was with Hella, as a “junior development engineer” of “headlights, taillights, hooters and wiring harnesses” – that sounds like a thorough apprenticeship! 18 years at Adient (Johnson Controls) in South Africa followed, managing plants producing parts for a wide variety of car companies, then he joined Tenneco.

Ferodo is in Tenneco Braking group which has in total 15 locations, a turnover of $651m last year and 2,850 employees. North America is their biggest manufacturing region followed by China. In Chapel they make locomotive brakes for manufacturers such as Bombardier and passenger vehicles, both OE (original equipment, for carmakers such as Jaguar Land Rover and the VW Polo) and OES (original equipment servicing – to garages). Getting the technology right is tricky: OE manufacturers demand that products operate within extremely tight tolerances so the brakes’ ‘feel and repeatability under hard braking’ when you press the pedal is just right. As they will tell you, “Our friction material formulations and production processes are tailored to each customer’s specific vehicle requirements, this means performance characteristics meet and routinely exceed industry standards.” Of course they do.

Jean talked us through Tenneco’s core values, including “Radical Candour”, simplicity and “organisational velocity”.. those sound like qualities the NHS could use right now. “Safety is a major, major focus for us,” he added; “fifty million people trust us with their safety every day.” They focus on the Three Ps – People, Performance and Pride, with KPIs measured on a monthly basis. That requires ferocious attention to detail while maintaining the bigger picture, using management skills in order to drive down costs, maintain quality and keep ahead of the competition. “We like long runs,” he said, with the push to get rid of excessive complexity; if that can’t be done at a profit they will exit the contract, as they are doing at the moment with Alstrom the French train manufacturer.

The Chapel factory has a museum on site, where the oldest brakes are on show (he brought some for us to touch, with due reverence); here, the first disc brake was developed. We are invited to hold a meeting on site, and I will be talking further with Bez on that. The site has advantages – “a strong location with extensive product knowledge” from their 138 employees; their staff here are their greatest asset. It’s a bigger site than we can see from the road at 81 sqkm. In 2026 it’ll churn out 6.1m brake pads, that’s 174 different products, with 70% going to garages and 30% to manufacturers. Roughly, JLR takes a third, rail takes another third and the rest is VW, China and others. However the disadvantages of operating in the UK are also obvious – high energy costs, Brexit “which has disrupted the supply chain” and a lack of local suppliers. Most of what goes into the Chapel site is imported.

I asked what difference EVs are making, thinking that since they are heavy (my car weighs about 2.5 tonnes) that must be factored in. But as Bez immediately pointed out, the whole braking system has had to be redesigned, for an EV has a different centre of gravity, as it doesn’t have a single engine but one on each wheel and the battery relay forming the car’s floor; the whole dynamics of the vehicle are different from a petrol or diesel car. And because of fears of battery degredation, drivers tend to buy EVs new, so the demand for OES (servicing in garages) is at risk. I could see his point – last time I needed new brakes was 10 years ago on my Skoda, and so far never on my three EVs. We could add, that braking in EVs returns some power to the batteries, so less energy is dissipated through the brake pads. Fascinating discussion!

We were lucky to have Jean, who was one of the easiest senior managers I’ve ever had to deal with, and was generous both with his time and with his mastery of every tenet of high-class management. He spoke to us in the last week of his time as Plant Manager of Ferodo, where his leadership has helped ensure the future, and has now moved on to another top job in Manchester. Bez is his replacement, who has now taken over.

We wish them

both well.