A look back at the Wahpeton facility’s past year, Blog Post
Posted 1/29/24 (Mon)
In 2023, the Wahpeton manufacturing plant continued to do what it does best – manufacture the global gold standard Raptor Draper Belting for OEMs worldwide, a variety of belts for other agriculture machines, Direct X belts for the aggregates industry, and belts for a variety of other industries like playground equipment, roller coasters and mobile recycling, to name a few. Highlights from the year include:
- The facility was again named one of Prairie Business Magazine’s 50 Best Places to Work for the ninth time!
- Manufactured belts for customers in more than 20 countries across the globe.
- Plant Manager, Rod Koch, was interviewed by multiple media outlets to talk about best practices in manufacturing including Industry Today’s Industry Insights Podcast about the facility’s “People First Culture;" an article for Industrial Distribution about how the facility takes care of its people stemming its Midwestern roots and values; and interviews with Wahpeton Daily News and Prairie Business Magazine to talk about the facility as a Continental company
- Supported other Continental manufacturing plants – decreasing downtime and saving the company money – by machining tooling for plants located in Brazil, Nebraska and Kansas during a time when machining shops are backlogged with orders and long lead-times
- Updated the training room at the Wahpeton facility where more than 100 training classes are provided to employees
- Throughout 2023, hired new headcount to increase overall staffing to over 300 employees
- Mike Schroeder, Head of Product Management Conveying Solutions for Continental, formerly of WCCO Belting, served as a thought leader on product innovation including:
- Wrote an article about engaging component suppliers early on in a project to gain efficiencies and help better plan for new projects that include a conveyor belt
- Interviewed by Aggregates Business magazine for an article about tackling component supply issues
Continental’s Wahpeton facility continues to embrace its tradition of innovation, grow its employee base and capabilities, and positively impact the numerous industries in which it provides belts and manufactured rubber products, and will continue to do so in 2024 and beyond.