Conti to upgrade A-Z mold plant

RUNDING, Germany (Sept. 8,, 2015) — Continental A.G. will invest nearly $7 million in its A-Z Formen- und Maschinenbau G.m.b.H. machinery- and mold-making unit to build a foundry at the firm's Runding plant to support the production of molds with more detailed treads.

Conti acquired A-Z, which it described as “one of the most technologically skilled producers of molds required for manufacturing tires,” in January 2015 for about $46 million.

The company, a producer of tire molds and containers, tire regroovers and other special machinery, employs about 320 at its plants in Meclov, Czech Republic and Runding. It has been in business since 1965  and now is part of ContiMachinery, a Continental subsidiary based at the Hanover-Stöcken, Germany,  industrial park.

Continental said the investment will help A-Z meet the “ever-more complex requirements” on tire molds and production performance. The expansion should create about 20 jobs at the Runding site.

Nikolai Setzer, executive board member for Conti's Tire Division, called the acquisition of A-Z “another significant step on the way to realizing our long-term Vision 2025 strategy.

“The production of the most sophisticated molds with the highest technological quality is essential for us to be able to continue to expand our technological expertise at this level, which is so incredibly important for the product characteristics of the tire,” he said.

“By further expanding our capacity, we are making it possible to keep pace with the ever more exacting requirements on tires and their production as well as to fulfill our goal of manufacturing premium tires while driving research and development forward at the highest level.”