Driven – TMD Friction ' s leadership team .
IN THE
DRIVING SEAT
Hartlepool-based TMD Friction is Europe ’ s largest manufacturer of brake pads for the aftermarket .
Currently the company employs almost 600 people and with the demand for its products increasing month by month , things show no sign of slowing down .
UK operations manager Tom Russell tells us more …
TMD Friction in Hartlepool is rapidly establishing a reputation as one of Tees Valley ’ s most successful and fastest growing companies . Now employing almost 600 people , a figure recently boosted by the transfer of 85 agency workers onto permanent contracts , TMD is leading the way in the production of brake pads for Europe ’ s aftermarket .
In fact , Hartlepool can produce brake pads for 95 per cent of the cars and vans you see on the road , including those found in emergency vehicles .
That ’ s staggering for a company which , until recently , was operating under the radar , with few people fully aware of the scale of production at the Hartlepool plant – the group ’ s only UK manufacturing facility .
Tom Russell , UK operations manager , said : “ Awareness and understanding of the TMD Friction brand in the UK has risen rapidly over the past 18 months , as we ’ ve embarked on our journey to becoming an employer of choice .
“ Our people are the single most important thing to our business – without them , there wouldn ' t be a business – and we felt we really needed to invest in our brand to show people what a fantastic company we are . “ What we ’ re doing here is huge – we ' re able to manufacture 95 per cent of the range of brake pads for Europe ’ s aftermarket , yet it ’ s fair to say not many people knew that because we weren ’ t shouting about it .
“ Now , though , the picture is very different . We ’ re proud of our business and people , and aren ’ t afraid to tell people about that .
“ And it ’ s worked – in the past 18 months we ’ ve featured on the BBC ’ s Newsnight programme , we ’ ve been visited by the prime minister ' s team to learn more about our business and were named winner of
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