The strong TSE Brakes, Inc. that you see today is the culmination of 40 years of progress in spring brake innovation. The company’s origin dates back to the early 1960’s, when the Smith family started out as young, determined remanufacturers of spring brake chambers. In 1970, TSE developed its own new design based on experience gained through many years of remanufacturing and testing. TSE created the Omnibrake family of completely new units that changed the industry. Today, TSE no longer remanufactures, as its focus has shifted to the OEM market. . In recent years, TSE has added one of the most extensive lines of disk brake actuators in the industry. As the standard equipment choice among a growing list of new truck and trailer manufacturers worldwide, the popularity of TSE’s Omnibrake has taken off, generating record sales.
The company has grown over the years because of its approach to research and development. This innovative approach began by taking apart over three million of the competition’s failed spring brake chambers that had been returned to TSE as cores and examining their failures. From this data, TSE’s Engineering Team has built into the Omnibrake a long list of patented innovations to reduce or eliminate nearly all of the serious causes of premature brake chamber failure. Today, TSE’s R&D consists of a rigorous program of lab and field testing.
The greatest result of TSE’s commitment to R&D was the creation of a true “double life” unit built to deliver years of reliable service. The Omnibrake’s major components all enjoy service life cycles that far exceed the recommendations of the Society of Automotive Engineers, or SAE.
In tough SAE salt spray testing, the Omnibrake’s exclusive electrodeposition coating delivered 1,000 hours of protection, greatly surpassing the SAE’s recommendation of only 96 hours. The unit’s rubber diaphragms easily cycle over two million times, more than double the SAE’s one million cycle recommendation. And where the SAE says a spring brake chamber’s main power spring should last a recommended 200,000 cycles, TSE’s Omnibrake consistently tests out at over 500,000 cycles.
The TSE Brakes of today is a much larger operation than in those first few years. With over 350 employees, a chain of warehouses across North America, and it’s own private fleet of company over-the-road trucks, TSE has blossomed into a contender in the worldwide spring brake marketplace. Due to its focus on stringent quality controls, TSE Brakes is certified as QS 9000 and ISO 9001 compliant. Meeting these high worldwide quality standards means that TSE can become standard equipment on major power equipment manufacturers both in the U.S. and abroad.
Along with Chairman of the Board and Founder Ted Smith, his son Greg Smith and son-in-law, Steve Lum get involved in the day-to-day task of supplying new spring brakes to more than 30 countries around the globe. Greg is President and Steve is Vice President – Finance. TSE enjoys a stable workforce made up of reliable people, many of which have been with TSE for more than 30 years.