The Brake Industry Handbook: An Insider’s Guide to Markets, Technology, and Careers

EVERY VEHICLE ON THE ROAD depends on brakes. The industry behind them is a sophisticated global business spanning materials science, precision manufacturing, electronics, and software—yet it remains largely invisible to outsiders.

Brian Hagman has spent years embedded in this world. As founder of Hagman Search, he has placed executives at brake companies large and small. As publisher of The BRAKE Report, he has interviewed the industry’s leaders and tracked its evolution through electric vehicles, autonomous driving, and regulatory transformation.

Now, for the first time, he’s compiled that knowledge into a single resource.

The Brake Industry Handbook covers the technology, the business, and the people:

• Friction materials, rotor metallurgy, and the engineering behind stopping power
• How OE programs are won—and what it takes to succeed in aftermarket
• The regulatory pressures and technology shifts reshaping the competitive landscape
• Commercial vehicle braking: a different world with different players
• Career guidance from someone who has seen thousands of brake industry résumés

From engineers seeking technical depth to business professionals needing industry context, this is the definitive guide to an industry that’s never been mapped—until now.

Brian Hagman is the founder and publisher of The BRAKE Report, the leading trade publication serving the global brake industry, and the founder of Hagman Search, an executive recruiting firm focused exclusively on the brake sector. Since launching The BRAKE Report in 2012, he has built it into the go-to resource for brake professionals in more than 100 countries--reaching engineers, executives, product managers, and supply chain leaders across the brake ecosystem. Through Hagman Search, he places executives and senior technical talent at worldclass brake companies--from established global suppliers to emerging players reshaping the industry. He lives in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.