ContiTech 2.0: New conveyance solutions, a renewed focus

TUCSON, Ariz.—The evolution of ContiTech, one of three business sectors for the Hanover, Germany-based Continental A.G., continues in product, branding and structure.

As ContiTech decentralizes to be closer to its distribution and OE customers, the $6.4 billion sector of Continental is centralizing data for its belting customers with the release of Conti+2.0.

This second-generation conveyance platform is customizable to any belting operation, and essentially is a combination of software and hardware that provides users with a centralized database and a toolbox to help maximize performance and profitability.

"One of the big things we talk about is our larger mining customers," Jim Hill, vice president of marketing and strategy for ContiTech Industrial Solutions Americas, told Rubber News Sept. 12 at the NIBA Belting Conference. "They have invested millions and millions of dollars into conveying systems, for one.

"But there are also the aggregate and sand and gravel companies that have hundreds of different quarries around the U.S. ... and for them to effectively gather reportable data for those different locations is very difficult."

With the new Conti+2.0 system and extensive distribution network, customers can conduct survey work and load the entirety of that data into the system, "a combination of our expertise and our distribution network adding that local knowledge and local expertise," Hill said.

"With this system, we now have a great picture for a huge company that has hundreds of quarries ... whereas before they had trouble getting their arms around all that data," he said.

The first iteration of Conti+ came out nearly a decade ago, and 2.0 builds on the sensors and preventative maintenance that were hallmarks of the original system, according to David Almanza, product manager for the Americas region, ContiTech digital solutions.

"We know that knowledge and data are important for our customers," Almanza said. "This is why we developed Conti+, a digital platform that is a combination of web applications for cell phones and hardware in the tool itself.

"We are looking to bring distributors and end-users together to streamline the process of how they work."

According to Almanza, distributors or OE customers host the data through IoT.

"One of the things we have seen is that data is lost at some point," he said. "We can centralize and provide that data for the end user and customer."

The data also can assist in the selection of the best possible type of belt for a given application, as well as the sustainability and traceability of belts and components.

"The system can help with many things," Almanza said. "It assists how users select products by using the management tool. They would start implementing Conti+ when the conveyance system is installed—all of the idlers, pulleys ... they will have data on all that."

After that, a distributor or end user needs to maintain the system.

"There is a predictive piece to this as well," Hill said. "We can predict the life of the belt."

Almanza said the system can be customized with as much (or as little) that a customer might require on the hardware side.

"We have designed the system to be customizable, so it can be installed where it's needed," he said. "We have put an emphasis on user-friendliness. Now, it's not just about the data, but how you report it out.

"And we are able to scale the tool now, with the ability to host and manage thousands of sites, thousands of conveyors and hundreds of users. Now the tool is supporting that level of scalability."

The software for Conti+2.0 was developed internally, Almanza said.

"We developed the knowledge internally to serve our customers," he said.

Hill added that ContiTech leaned on the overarching high-tech expertise within the Continental Group for the software.

"Being with Conti Group, very much a high-tech business itself with self-drivable cars and the networking between vehicles, having that as a resource to pull from is a unique thing," Hill said.

The Conti+2.0 rollout has seen its greatest success in North America, Almanza said.

"This is a tool that is rolling out to Europe, Asia and all the Americas," he said. "But we have seen our greatest success in North America."

The second generation of Conti+ was released in September, Almanza said.

"It's why we timed it up with NIBA," Hill said.

Although ContiTech's Industrial Solutions business area showcased its Conti+2.0 platform at the NIBA conference, the company recently released several other products.

ContiTech's core offerings include industrial and hydraulic hose, conveyor belt, power transmission belts (the new Synchrochain Carbon Synchronous Belt and Synchromotion Belt) and air springs.

"The Synchrochain Supreme gives us a powerful product lineup in our powertrain lineup," Hill said. "We have produced a line here that I believe is tough to beat."

As well, Continental offers the Synchromotion polyurethane timing belt, "a new generation" of belts for power transmission in demanding environments.

The Synchromotion will be part of the established "Truly Endless" line of timing belts, according to Conti.

The Synchromotion allows custom design via its availability in specific lengths from 1,500 mm to 14,500 mm (maximum width of 100 mm), and complements the Synchroflex belt, a lighter weight timing belt that is established within the Truly Endless portfolio.

The belt is reinforced by steel cord, giving it flexibility, abrasion resistance and durability.

"The polyurethane cover ensures more efficient power transmission than is the case with other materials," Conti said. "The Synchromotion can be manufactured in individual lengths ... precisely down to one tooth."

This customization brings applications into play that previously were not covered by Continental, including timing belt replacement on existing equipment.

The Synchromotion, to be manufactured at Continental's Dannenberg, Germany, plant, can be installed on "synchronous conveyor systems and transport devices with sliding rails, as well as positioning and reversing drives in linear and control engineering."

The Synchromotion belts are being introduced internationally on the heels of a rebranding for the power transmission unit within ContiTech.

The new slogan, Continuity, aims to add just that to its supply chain, production and innovation for its industrial drive belts.

In fact, Continental is ensuring Continuity around the world, as it rebrands the entirety of its drive belt portfolio in the industrial segment with the new name.

All regions are using the new naming structure now, according to ContiTech.

As part of the rollout, ContiTech will add an expected performance level to each of its belts: standard, advanced and supreme.

"This offers clarity for our customers as to what each belt can do," Hill said.

The performance level branding dictates a series of upgrades and "modernizations" for some drive belt series, as well as completely new product lines to expand existing ranges.

"This is a standardization of our product design and our product labeling so that we can pull from a variety of plants around the world," Hill said. "If a plant is at capacity we can look elsewhere to fill that demand."

While many of Continental's products—the group is divided between ContiTech, automotive and tire segments—are international, there is little question that ContiTech is bullish on the Americas.

The ContiTech segment is further divided into OE Solutions, Industrial Solutions (by the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific) and Surface Solutions.

Industrial Solutions previously was organized by product rather than geography.

"Conti+2.0 is our platform at NIBA," Hill said. "But our new organizational structure was announced at the beginning of the year.

"And the entire goal for that is to be closer to customers. We want to be closer to our customer in our thought processes rather than being organized around products. We are becoming more customer-centric."

Hill quoted the keynote speaker at NIBA 2024, Jimmy Blackmon, a retired U.S. Army colonel with extensive experience in hot spots around the world.

"We are also trying to move the decision-making closer to the customer, becoming more decentralized," Hill said. "We want to 'power down,' as the keynote speaker said, with more regionalization.

"The philosophy has helped drive our decisions in investments."

Those investments include approximately $90 million for a massive new hydraulic hose production facility in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

"We have made many investments in the Americas," Hill said. "In Aguascalientes, we are now pushing dirt around and it is coming to life."

And at a belt production facility in Brazil, ContiTech has invested in a new cable press that employs a variety of different automations.

"The Americas are very important to ContiTech," Hill said. "And we are doing a lot of great things to focus on these products here."

ContiTech and the group are "always looking for opportunities" in the merger and acquisition space, as well.

The last acquisition for ContiTech brought WCCO Belting Inc. on board in 2022, a North Dakota firm with about 375 employees.

"We have regular M&A dialogue meetings to discuss opportunities," Hill said. "Some are opportunistic, some are strategic."