10/10/2014

Legg unveils new belt line

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By Mike McNulty

Legg's Christoph Seeger (right) talks with visitors at NIBA—The Belting Association's annual convention, held in Seattle, Sept. 24-27.

SEATTLE—Legg Co. has come out with a new line of U.S. manufactured belts and a new program to support the line that's aimed at less demanding applications.

Called Flex-Legg, the line and the program were unveiled at NIBA—The Belting Association's annual convention, held in Seattle, Sept. 24-27. The belts will be manufactured at Legg's plant in Halstead, Kan.

Flex-Legg meets RMA2 standards, and the line is available in five dimensions with a safety factor of 10:1, company officials said during the firm's hospitality night.

Less demanding applications targeted for the new line include conveyor belts for sand and gravel, according to Christoph Seeger, market director for ContiTech Conveyor Belt North America.

Most companies have been going to China to get similar belts until now, he said, but with Legg producing them in the U.S. that could change quickly.

Legg, which was founded in 1939 and is now part of ContiTech A.G.'s conveyor belt group of companies, primarily makes belts for a range of segments, including the agricultural, industrial and specialty sectors.

“Legg is committed to providing a high quality product to the belting industry and has worked diligently to come up with a standard program for this type of application,” Seeger said.

“We believe that our customers will like the new program because it is made in the U.S.,” he said.

He said the Flex-Legg offering can be slit and shipped to customers within two business days and can be cut to standard widths, as opposed to master rolls of 72 inches as the Chinese are doing, for easier ordering.

That will give customers more flexibility and eliminate the need to carry much inventory for that type of belting, he said.

“I strongly believe we can bring back some belt manufacturing to the U.S. that previously was handled in China,” Seeger said. “We could have produced the belts in China, but decided against it.”

Flex-Legg is a better belt than those made by the company's competitors, he said. It has a lower skim but higher than those made in China, he added, “so there are many advantages. I strongly believe we can make this line in the U.S. and that it will do well.”

Belts in the line could cost about 10 percent more than those made in Asia, depending on the volume purchased, he said, but they are higher quality products.

Legg also has come out with Legg-Wall steep angle conveyor belts and a program to support the line. The new line's portfolio of corrugated sidewall belts, used for transport of bulk goods, features high quality, long-term, high incline conveying systems, the company said.

Prime benefits of the belts include saving space by conveying at inclines, providing high stability while allowing good longitudinal flexibility, the firm said, adding that standard belts offer two special cross rigid fabrics.

For heavy duty applications, construction with steel breakers is available.