Continental has acquired the family-owned belting manufacturer WCCO Belting, Inc. of Wahpeton, North Dakota, a leading manufacturer of specialized rubber products for the agricultural and industrial segments—such as smooth, texture, pattern, or cleated belting for package handling, construction, sand and gravel, recycling, and other light industrial applications. (See WCCO staff photo above.)
The tech company Continental strengthens its conveyor belting customer portfolio and strengthens its conveying solutions business in the agricultural industry.
Yes… sometimes our service truck operators perform service on farms.
With the transaction, equipment manufacturers, distributors, dealers and farmers will benefit from a combined Continental product and service portfolio generating a full multi-tier offering that will enable better support and service.
Founded in 1871, Continental develops technologies and services for sustainable and connected mobility of people and their goods. It offers solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transportation. With over 190,000 employees across 58 countries and markets, Continental generated $33.4 billion in sales in 2021.
“This strategic acquisition is a threefold perfect fit: portfolio, sales market, and people. Moreover, we continue our transformation towards a holistic solutions provider in one of the growing industries, namely the off-highway industry," said Philip Nelles, Continental Executive Board member and head of the ContiTech Group Sector.
With 75 percent of WCCO’s business in the agricultural industry, the acquisition underlines Continental’s commitment to the sector, as WCCO’s product portfolio has a strong market position and serves a complementary customer base.
“We intend to leverage and grow our manufacturing capability to elevate Continental’s opportunity in this area and to offer complete technical solutions to manufacturers and distributors with the goal to improve profitability and speed to market with new innovations and products," stated Jim Hill, head of the Group Sector’s North American business.
Established in 1954, WCCO Belting has over 300 employees, manufacturing and distributing farm machinery applications to over 20 countries, including draper belts, baler belts, pickup belts, tube conveyor belts, merger belts, as well as industrial belt applications for material and package handling, recycling, forestry, and aggregates.
“We perfectly fit to Continental as we share the same passion for our industries. Everything we do is to better support our current and prospective customers’ needs based on our longstanding experience and with our team’s dedication contributing to the process of creating custom rubber products that impact businesses across the world. We are very much looking forward to our future common path,” said Tom Shorma, the Chief Executive Officer and President of WCCO..
For more information on WCCO Belting, visit www.wccobelt.com.
For company information on Continental, see www.continental-industry.com.