MT Magazine May/June 2023

MAY/JUNE 2023

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Want the Workforce of the Future? Create It Morganton, North Carolina, is one of those places along I-40 that history could have passed by. But automotive supplier Continental is making some of its most advanced braking systems there – and is helping build a workforce for the 21st century. Morganton, North Carolina – about an hour east of Asheville and an hour and 20 minutes northwest of Charlotte – is one of those small towns (population approximately 17,500) where textile mills and furniture factories came … and went. Back in 1992 global automotive supplier Continental came to Morganton … and stayed. And expanded. And is now instrumental in the production of what is known by the company as its “Future Brake System,” FBS 2, a semi-dry automotive brake system that deploys a second-generation brake-by-wire system (MK C2) with electromechanical brakes on the rear axle (these brakes are “dry” – as in they don’t use brake fluid) and conventional hydraulic brakes (“wet”) on the front. Last fall Continental (or Conti as it is colloquially known) received an order valued at about 1.5 billion euros (approximately the same in U.S. dollars at the time due to the exchange rate) for the FBS 2 system that will go into series production with a North American OEM and be introduced in 2025. BY GARY S. VASILASH CONTRIBUTING EDITOR