Sundaram Brake Linings (SBLL), formerly known as Sundaram Abex, was incorporated in Sep.'74 by T V Sundaram Iyengar & Sons and its subsidiaries, Southern Roadways and Sundaram Industries in collaboration with Abex Corporation, US, as a public limited company and commenced business in Sep.'76. Prior to the disinvestment, Abex Corporation was holding 16.57% of the company's equity which was divested in Jan.'95. SBLL is in the business of automotive and industrial friction materials used in automobile commercial vehicles, cars, jeeps, scooters, tractors, etc. It's manufacturing units are located at Padi, Madras, and Madurai. In 1978, it started exporting brake linings to developed countries. It is the first Indian company to manufacture asbestos-free brake linings in the country. SBLL is one of the main suppliers of brake linings to TELCO. It has also entered into a technical collaboration agreement with Frenos Sauleda, Spain, to manufacture asbestos-free woven clutch facings. It received the ISO 9002 certificate in Apr.'92 and the ISO 9001 certificate in Aug.'95. SBLL came out with a rights issue of PCDs in Oct.'95, to part-finance its Rs 18.05 cr project to enhance production capacities at its existing units and set up a new unit at TSK Puram to manufacture asbestos-free products predominantly for exports. It received the National Award for Technology Development in 1989-90. In 1996-97, the company has established a new unit in TSK Puram near Madurai for the manufacture of Asbestosfree products for export markets. The company was chosen for the "Productivity Award" for 1998-99, by the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA). In the year 1998 the company imported the know-how for manufacture of Disc Brake Pads for commercial vehicle but in the absence of required support from the technology provider, the company could not absorb the technology and developed its own products which are under test & trial as on March 2001. In the year 2000-01, the company exported it's products to newer destinations of Chile, Hungary, Mexico and Venezuela. SBL is the fifth company outside japan to be awarded the prestigious Deming Application Prize for 2001 for its spearheading quality movement.