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MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – Duncan Huang is founder and president of MaxPower Friction Inc. (MPFI), which produces copper-free brake pads for applications from light to heavy-duty. An engineer, Huang’s experience covers formulation research and development and extends to process and quality control, which has helped MPFI build its reputation in North America.
Huang was the latest Leadership Spotlight participant, The BRAKE Report’s ongoing discussions with industry movers and shakers.
TBR: What is your current role and area of responsibility?
Huang: President at MaxPower Friction Inc. MPFI is a Canadian-based manufacturer producing disc brake pads.
TBR: How would you describe your work/leadership style and why has it worked so well for you?
Huang: I founded MPFI in 2015. MPFI’s business has grown steadily in the past five years, because we have stuck to our mission to produce top-quality disc brake pads that meet or exceed customers’ satisfaction. We have built our reputation by delivering trouble-free disc brake pads to our customers.
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TBR: What do you see as your biggest challenge right now?
Huang: In the short term, Covid-19 impacts all kinds of businesses including the friction industry; we are facing challenges from the market shrinking and supply-chain changes.
TBR: What do you look for when evaluating top talent?
Huang: Normally we look for talented individuals through personal references; we view The Brake Report as an excellent channel to find the right persons for our company.
TBR: What is the best career advice you have been given?
Huang: Loyalty, honesty and the ability to handle multiple tasks will be key characteristics that employers prefer.
TBR: What can you tell us about your company and the markets you serve?
Huang: We are a Canadian manufacturer that produces top quality disc brake pads for the aftermarket. We apply positive and equal pressure molding technology to disc brake pads, which delivers the ultimate in quality and consistency.
MPFI is the only one in Canada that produces a wide range of disc-brake-pad applications including : light duty passenger car, fleet, heavy duty (truck and trailers), police fleet, racing cars, railway brake pads etc.
We have a total of 14 air disc brake pad molds developed that cover 99 percent of the air disc brake pad applications in North America.
TBR: What are the major challenge(s) facing your organization now, in the near term and the long term?
Huang: We are facing capacity issues due to growing market needs in the short term. And we will focus on the heavy duty application disc brake pads market in long term, which we may need to invest more on facilities and also develop more potential local customers in North America.
TBR: How do you see the industry evolving over the next 5-10 years and do you have any bold predictions for us?
Huang: EV cars will reshape friction industry in 5-10 years for sure. The friction industry needs to adapt to this significant change.
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TBR: What are the best opportunities for the company?
We are a local supplier that produces air disc brake pads; there are growing needs for air disc brake pads in North America. As a local reliable supplier, we ensure customers quality, safe products that meet regulations and shorter lead time than offshore products. This would be our opportunity to target niche-market.
TBR: Tell us something that most people might not know about you or your organization.
Huang: Since we grew our business from a small size and didn’t publcize our products and company information in the media during past five years, few people know MaxPower Friction Inc. could produce such wide range of disc brake pads, specifically for air disc brake pads, and products for police fleet and racing vehicles.