WCCO Belting

Speaking of “nondescript,” the word comes to mind when you see the WCCO Belting facility in Wahpeton, N.D. The building used to be a roller rink, and in some ways, it still looks the part.

But look closer.

See that flag, the white one with the blue “E” and star on it? That’s the President’s E-Star Award flag, and it testifies to WCCO Belting’s continuing success at exporting its products.

The E-Star exporting award was created by executive order of the president of the United States. And WCCO Belting is the only company in North Dakota to have received it.

So, that flag outside the building suggests that the inside deserves a look.

The look reveals a factory resembling a dry cleaner on industrialstrength steroids, as WCCO Belting’s 200 employees in Wahpeton use giant presses -- and the extreme heat and pressure they apply -- to turn rubber and fabric into custom-made rubber belts.

If you’ve ever seen a conveyor lift grain from a field into a hopper, you’ve likely seen a WCCO Belting belt. “We supply belting to every major farm equipment manufacturer in the world,” said Tom Shorma, WCCO Belting’s president and CEO.

“We ship directly into 24 countries.” And while agricultural belting makes up about half of the business, WCCO Belting also makes rubber conveyor belts for construction, industrial and other uses.

A key to the company’s success is a phrase that was used above: custom-made.

“Everything we make is custom,” Shorma said. “So, our typical competitor will go to a customer with a catalog and say, ‘Pick one.’ We go in with a brochure that describes our capabilities, and we say, ‘What do you want?’”

The customer spells out the belt properties that are needed – length, width, cleat pattern, puncture resistance and so on – and WCCO Belting complies.

“It’s just a different way of doing business that is unique to us,” Shorma said. “We are the best at what we do, and for the most part, we are the only ones who do what we do.”

As mentioned above, innovation is a big part of manufacturing. That’s true at WCCO Belting, as among its workforce are some 25 engineers. Their R&D efforts have resulted in multiple patents, as well as improvements to WCCO Belting’s products and production line.

Then there’s the culture that has resulted in multiple Prairie Business 50 Best Places to Work awards, the fact that nearly half of the workforce is female (well above the industry average), the fact that new employees – all of whom, including office workers, spend time on the factory floor – are told, “If you want a job, go elsewhere. If you want a career, stay here” …

“We had an industrial distributor visit,” Shorma said. “He’d lost a supplier. “He’s in the industrial-belting Hall of Fame; he’s won all kinds of awards. Before he came, he thought, ‘I’m going to have to help these guys.’

“Then he got here and said, ‘Who are you guys? Where did you come from?’ He had no idea we had this capability or capacity.

“So we ended up supplying him.”