About Millbrook
Millbrook provides vehicle test and validation services and systems to customers in the automotive, transport, tire, petrochemical and defense industries. It is independent and impartial in everything it does.
It has a range of test facilities for full vehicles, tires and components located in the USA, the UK and Northern Finland.
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Millbrook in the USA
In the USA, Millbrook runs driveline test laboratories in Michigan (previously Millbrook Revolutionary Engineering Inc.) and California. It designs, builds, installs, and services dynamometer test systems and associated data acquisition and test system automation software.
It deploys technical specialists and project managers across the world to provide test services and equipment to global customers in the automotive, transport and petrochemical industries.
Millbrook in the UK
In the UK, Millbrook operates its iconic Millbrook Proving Ground and a test facility in Leyland.
Millbrook has a range of test facilities for components and full vehicles. These include engine dynamometers, environmental chambers, e-motor and e-axle test cells, portable emissions measurement systems (PEMS), crash laboratories, interior systems laboratories, battery test facilities and advanced emissions chassis dynamometers.
At its Proving Ground, Millbrook has 70km of varied test tracks, including hill routes, high speed areas and challenging off road courses. Its professional drivers and engineers perform repeatable tests on all types of vehicles in a secure and safe environment.
Millbrook's corporate event venues host exceptional vehicle-related events for up to 5,000 people.
Millbrook in Finland
Millbrook’s winter test facility, Test World, is based in Northern Finland and specialises in vehicle and tire testing in winter conditions. The team is expert at preparing snow and ice tracks for repeatable testing and at performing development and type approval tests on tires.
Test World introduced innovation to the tire industry with the world’s first indoor winter tire test facility. The facility opened in 2012 offering snow and ice traction and braking. Snow handling was added in 2015. With the addition of new indoor test facilities in 2018, it is the first in the industry to offer testing on natural snow, ice and wet and dry asphalt in one location, 365 days a year.
Millbrook in Germany and China
Millbrook has sales and service offices in China and Germany, established since 2010. The teams offer local expertise and in-country support for test systems and services provided by Millbrook globally.
History of Millbrook
Millbrook takes its name from the nearby village where, in the early 19th century, a flourishing community of Mills nestled around a picturesque brook.
In 1924, construction began on the General Motors Proving Ground in Milford, United States. Millbrook's design was inspired by this site.
In the mid-1960s, Vauxhall and Bedford decided that they needed a proving ground similar to those that General Motors operated in the USA. The company scoured the UK for a suitable site that was both flat and hilly, as hills were needed for testing. Eventually, Millbrook was founded.
Construction work began in April 1968. 2,600,00 cu.yds of earth were moved to sculpt the necessary track features into the existing but barren landscape.
Millbrook officially opened in 1970. For the first 18 years, Vauxhall cars and Bedford trucks, buses and military vehicles consumed the efforts of the small staff team on site.
In 1988 a new company, Millbrook Proving Ground Ltd, was formed to trade independently as a wholly owned subsidiary of Group Lotus.
In 1993 Millbrook was separated from Group Lotus by transferring its shares to GM Holdings UK Ltd. The company continued to flourish as an independently managed business by investing in high technology areas.
Millbrook Group was formed in 2015 when Millbrook acquired Test World, a world leading winter vehicle and tyre testing facility in Finland.
In 2016 Millbrook joined the Test and Measurement business segment of Spectris plc, a leading supplier of productivity-enhancing instrumentation and controls.
In 2017 Millbrook expanded its test capacity with the acquisition of a new site in Leyland, Lancashire. Opening in 1980 as Leyland Technical Centre, the site has an impressive set of facilities to test vehicles across commercial, automotive and off-highway sectors.
2018 saw Millbrook continue to expand globally with the acquisition of Millbrook Revolutionary Engineering; a test service and equipment provider headquartered in the US, with presence in China and Germany.
In 2019, Millbrook opened its Autonomous Village. Built to support the development of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs), it consists of 6 purpose-built workshops and access to a private 5G network.
2019 saw huge investments across Millbrook, including its Battery Test Facility, run by Millbrook's REPS software. Millbrook also installed its own EDU test systems at its site in Leyland.
In 2020, Millbrook celebrated 50 years since its Bedfordshire Proving Ground opened. The company marked this golden anniversary by speaking to its alumni and launching a brand new website.
Certifications and Accreditations
ISO/IEC 17025:2017
In the USA, Millbrook Revolutionary Engineering is accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Standard. The certificate and supplement showing the scope of accreditation are here, and also provided on the Perry Johnson Laboratory website www.pjlabs.com
In the UK, Millbrook is a UKAS accredited testing laboratory No. 2498 at its Bedford site and a UKAS accredited testing laboratory No. 10121 and a UKAS accredited calibration laboratory No. 10121 at its Leyland site. Certificates of accreditation are linked from the text above. The respective current Schedules of Accreditation are shown on the UKAS website www.ukas.com
In Finland, Millbrook is, as Test World Oy, a Finas accredited laboratory No. T236. The certificate of accreditation is here, and information on the activities and locations within the scope of accreditation is provided through this link and is also available on the website www.finas.fi
ISO Management System Standards
Millbrook holds management system certificates for the following ISO Standards at the Bedford site in the UK: