It took several days for the Lincoln plant to transition to hose manufacturing, but the largest amount of time was dedicated to getting the right parts and equipment shipped from Mexico.
The Chihuahua plant did have several days to prepare for the closure, so they packed up and shipped pallets of green hose, mandrels and a trim machine.
"The main portion of the work we did on the (hose) process was very similar, in a general focus, to what we do (with belts)," Stuart said. "So it was easy to adapt our current knowledge to making the hose. Basically, we were doing the second half of the process, the final part of the hose. There are similarities to our belt processes within that."
That's not to say that there wasn't a bit of problem-solving needed along the way. Everyone, McFarland said, stepped up with ideas and solutions. Whether that was finding a way to properly cut the end of hose using the equipment on hand or finding ways to ship the products overnight to the customers.
"To say that it was picture perfect, would be a little bit of a stretch," McFarland said with laugh. "… It may have been a little chaotic, but it came back to people working long hours and working together to get the product to the customer."
In the end, it may have felt a little hectic at times, but it wasn't difficult. After all, Duncan said, there were a number of Lincoln employees who had the muscle memory for molded hose making.
"Some of the employees that helped with this process weren't born (when hose making moved to Mexico)," Duncan said. "But there are a lot of us here in Lincoln that worked here in the '90s and had a really good idea of how to manufacture hose, so a lot of knowledge really existed within this facility."
In fact, back when hose was an essential part of the daily operations, employees cut their teeth in the molded hose department. Everyone, Duncan said, started in that department. Many would go on to make belting or work in the mix center that Conti still operates at the Lincoln facility. Some went on to serve as managers or leaders, others may have found positions in finance or human relations.
But no matter where they were working in Lincoln in 2020, if they had made those molded hoses, their insights were invaluable. Their know-how was needed.
"We were close to 20 years of service on average, so that meant that we had a lot of people still on staff and in the production ranks—production operators—who were very familiar (with hose making)," McFarland said. "… It was just a collaborative group of people, everywhere from mechanical engineers, design engineers to production operators who actually ran the equipment 20-plus years ago, were all working together."
To ensure the employees were permitted to switch departments and salaried employees could work alongside hourly employees, the United Steelworkers Union leadership worked closely with Continental leadership.
Both McFarland and Duncan were quick to note that, while the transition required many of the Lincoln plant employees to problem solve and think on their feet, they weren't alone in making the transition. The team had support from Continental experts around the globe—in Mexico, Germany and even China—helping to ensure that they were able to make the transition smoothly.
"On our side of the fence, we were able to get cure vessels and get the equipment modified to set up these mandrels overnight," Duncan said. "The facility in Mexico initially sent the ultra-hot items first, and then this kept expanding to more part numbers, more volume, more customers as weeks went on."
Over the course of the Mexican plants' closure, the Lincoln facility not only took on the hose production, it added some of Chihuahua's belting to the mix as well. And Lincoln did that, Duncan notes, without skipping a beat on the belt production it already had.
"There were a lot of long days for a lot of engineers," McFarland said. "There were engineers involved in production—it was just kind of an all-hands-on-deck situation with long days, long hours, lots of engineering support, lots of knowledgeable people—both in Mexico and here."