After one year of operating under the Continental umbrella, the United States-based home of ContiTech continues to grow and refine its businesses. “It has been an exciting first year filled with many of the elements inherent in a merger,” said Jim Hill, ContiTech NAFTA chief executive officer. “But I’m pleased that we’ve made steady progress, and we have minimized the growing and merger challenges with the forethought of an excellent plan. We continue to operate under that plan, adjusting as needed along our path. Still, the bottom line is that the merger ha
s been better for our customers, and our goal is to continue that progress.”
A year ago, on January 30, 2015, the regulatory authorities approved Continental acquisition of Veyance Technologies, Inc. and “two great companies joined together and began to share their knowledge,” said Hans-Jürgen Duensing, Member of Continental’s Executive Board and responsible for ContiTech division. “We are pleased with the progress that our North American operations have been able to achieve in just one year in spite of some of the downturns in some key global industries. We are confident that ContiTech NAFTA’s team will continue to grow.” Duensing was referring to, in particular, the mining, oil and gas industries that have had challenging years. “We will move forward and fine-tune our business plans as we move through 2016.”
Evidence by that is a recent announcement to spend about $7 million to expand operations at the hose plant in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Hill said, “This is in view of tough economic conditions, but we continue to work hard to control costs across the board. This year will certainly be another challenging one, but not one where it will significantly impact our plans.”
Continental develops intelligent technologies for transporting people and their goods. As a reliable partner, the international automotive supplier, tire manufacturer, and industrial partner provide sustainable, safe, comfortable, individual, and affordable solutions. In 2015, the corporation generated preliminary sales of approximately $44.04 billion with its five divisions, Chassis & Safety, Interior, Powertrain, Tires, and ContiTech. Continental employs more than 208,000 people in 53 countries.
The ContiTech division is one of the world’s leading suppliers of technical elastomer products and is a specialist in plastics technology. It develops and produces functional parts, components, and systems for machine and plant engineering, mining, the automotive industry, and other important industries. Together with U.S. company Veyance Technologies Inc., which was acquired at the beginning of 2015, ContiTech generated sales of approximately $6.07 billion (pro forma basis) in 2014 and currently employs approximately 43,000 people in 43 countries worldwide.
