ContiTech Expands Hydraulics Manufacturing Footprint in the Americas
Key Highlights
- The new ContiTech hydraulic hose manufacturing facility in Aguascalientes, Mexico, marks a major investment in the growing Americas region.
- This facility will enable ContiTech to provide more localized supply to customers in North and South America.
- Automation and other advanced technologies play an important role in optimizing efficiency at the Aguascalientes facility.
On November 3, 2025, Continental’s group sector ContiTech celebrated the grand opening of its new hydraulic hose production facility in Aguascalientes, Mexico. The new facility expands the company’s manufacturing footprint in the Americas, enabling it to provide more localized supply of hoses as part of its ‘in the region, for the region’ strategy.
Production at the new 900,000 sq. ft. facility began in August. As production ramps, it will help ContiTech double its hydraulic hose capacity, enabling it to serve customers in a range of mobile and industrial applications.
“This plant is the biggest greenfield investment in the Americas region this year, and also for ContiTech globally,” said Andreas Gerstenberger, CEO of ContiTech USA and Head of Business Area Industrial Solutions Americas, during the grand opening event. “[The facility] positions us to produce our high quality, high performance hydraulic hoses closer to our customers in the market, for the market.”
Gerstenberger noted the Aguascalientes facility will help ContiTech meet growing demand for hydraulic hoses in the region as it sees long-term growth potential in this segment of the hydraulics industry.
“The Americas represents a core growth region for ContiTech…[and] the Aguascalientes plant plays a major part in our future growth,” said Philip Nelles, Member of the Continental Executive Board and CEO of ContiTech. “The opening of this plant delivers on our strategic priorities and positions ContiTech to meet the growing demand for hydraulic hoses in the region. It represents a significant commitment to expanding our production capabilities and services and serving customers more efficiently.”
Why ContiTech is Investing in the Hydraulics Market
Fluid handling is an important application for ContiTech said Nelles in an interview with Power & Motion held during the Aguascalientes facility’s grand opening event. He said that historically the company has been strong in the industrial hose portion of this sector but has been working to expand its hydraulic hose offering as well because of the long-term growth potential it sees in offering a broad range of fluid handling products.
Gerstenberger added that ContiTech’s decision to further invest in hydraulics came from the company’s vision of being a supplier of everything that has to do with fluids being moved or forces being generated, as well as total conveyance. Doing so enables the company to serve a range of industrial and mobile applications with its industrial hose, conveyor belt and hydraulic products.
Among the applications which utilize these technologies are mining, construction and other off-highway mobile equipment industries which Gerstenberger noted are a multi-billion dollar market in North and South America — and thus a motivating factor for the company’s investments in the Americas. While ContiTech already has a strong presence in the region with its industrial hose and conveyor belt products, he told Power & Motion the company sees room to grow its hydraulic solutions as well.
Although market conditions have been challenging for the hydraulics and mobile equipment industries since 2024, Gerstenberger said these industries, like many others, are cyclical. “What we are seeing right now is a downturn, which is part of the cyclical movement,” he said. “There will be an upswing again, no question; unfortunately, it may take more time than you’d like.”
Nelles said that overall, agriculture and other off-highway equipment industries are attractive markets for ContiTech because of their long-term potential. The ongoing need to feed a growing global population will drive demand for agricultural equipment and the components utilized in it like hydraulic hoses. Other sectors, such as mining, will be driven by rising demand for materials such as copper as use of electronics and electric vehicles continues to grow.
The replacement market is another attractive aspect of the off-highway equipment industry Nelles pointed. Maintaining machinery and occasionally replacing components such as hydraulic hoses ensures machines will continue to perform as desired, and thus provide additional sales opportunities for suppliers like ContiTech.
Data centers are another opportunity area the company sees for growing its hydraulics business. Hydraulic hoses, fittings and other components are used in the cooling systems at these facilities. As buildup of data centers continues to grow, particularly in the U.S., so too will the need for the various technologies utilized in them. “It's a whole new value chain which is developing, and we want to be part of [it]; hoses are one part of it,” said Gerstenberger.
The manufacturing space is another area Nelles said ContiTech sees long-term potential for hydraulic hoses. Even as these machines become more automated, many continue to rely on hydraulics. With many companies currently investing in their manufacturing operations, it is presenting opportunities for hydraulic hose suppliers.
The Importance of Establishing More Localized Supply Chains
ContiTech sees the new manufacturing facility in Aguascalientes playing an important part in growing the company’s hydraulics business in the Americas. The facility will work in close coordination with ContiTech’s existing manufacturing site in Norfolk, NE, to serve customers in North and South America.
“This new location strengthens our Americas operations and enhances our ability to serve customers throughout Mexico and beyond,” stated Nelles during the grand opening event. “It reflects our long-term strategy of investing where our customers are, bringing capabilities closer to demand, and increasing agility in a complex global landscape.”
He also noted the new facility will help the company establish its independence from Continental which is planning to sell ContiTech in 2026 (see sidebar at the end of this section to learn more).
Both Nelles and Gerstenberger noted how global supply chains have changed in recent years, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, making it increasingly important for manufacturers to establish more local supply of goods when possible.
Gerstenberger said that supply chain was not as much of a factor when globalization began but that has changed over the last decade. He said now people talk more about landed costs. “If I produce [my product] somewhere else, what does it cost me before it's in the place where I'm going to sell it,” he explained.
Shipping costs have become difficult to predict, and geopolitical changes present challenges as well.
“With the dynamics of global markets, and also some restrictions, it makes it absolutely essential that you are in the region, for the region,” said Nelles.
ContiTech intends for the Norfolk and Aguascalientes manufacturing facilities to serve the majority of customers in North and South America, and not ship products to other markets such as Asia and Europe. “With that, you have more agility and you can also save some money because you're not shipping [goods as far], and your independency is higher,” said Gerstenberger.
He told Power & Motion that when the company made the strategic decision to invest in growing its hydraulics business, it assessed its current manufacturing footprint to help determine the right geographic location. It already has plants in Canada, across the U.S., as well as in Mexico, Brazil and Chile. He said ContiTech wanted to establish a facility that could serve both the North and South American markets.
Aguascalientes was selected because of its central location in Mexico that offers accessibility to customers in both markets. In addition, he noted Continental’s Automotive business had established a site in the area just a few years ago which aided the decision to build a facility there as well.
Other factors that Gerstenberger said led ContiTech to choose Aguascalientes include it being home to a highly skilled workforce, a safe area as well as the region’s strong infrastructure and proximity to key markets. Support from the local government also aided the decision.
Continental Realigning Business
In late 2024, Continental began the realignment of its business operations with the announcement it would spin off its Automotive group sector, now known as Aumovio. The goal of this realignment is to enable each of its group sectors to become independent entities which are better able to focus on their individual customer segments. “Focused companies are significantly more agile and can create more value, especially in a challenging environment,” stated Wolfgang Reitzle, chairman of Continental’s Supervisory Board, in the company’s press release announcing approval of the Automotive group spin-off.
The next step in Continental’s realignment is to sell the ContiTech business in 2026. This will leave Continental AG as a dedicated tire company. “Today’s highly dynamic markets also call for focused, agile and decisive action. Now is therefore the right time to initiate the most far-reaching realignment in the company’s history. We are creating three strong, independent champions that will achieve their full growth and value creation potential as independent companies,” said Continental CEO Nikolai Setzer in a press release announcing the decision to make ContiTech an independent business.
Investments in Advanced Technologies Increase Production Quality and Efficiency
The Aguascalientes facility includes several advanced manufacturing technologies to enable a high level of productivity and efficiency, with the goal of creating one of the highest quality hydraulic hose plants in the world.
ContiTech said it looked for the best equipment it could install to achieve this goal such as wire braided machines designed to increase product throughput and quality. Machinery in the facility utilizes real-time data to help track customer projects, ensuring they meet all necessary specifications while also offering a log to refer back to when necessary.
The facility also includes a hose testing lab, ContiTech’s largest in the Americas. It can conduct material evaluation as well as dynamic testing which many OEM customers require.
The Aguascalientes site includes room for further expansion of the testing and production areas as well to meet future market needs.
Automation is an important component of the facility, and an area in which ContiTech is investing. Nelles said the company is increasing its investments globally in automation because of the role it plays in ensuring efficiency and stability of production output which are important to remain competitive in the market.
Combining automation and digitalization solutions at the plant adds more transparency into operations so processes can be better managed and failures detected earlier to create more efficiency, he said.
Vision systems, for instance, are being used to automatically detect if a hose cover has a defect instead of relying on human labor to do so. It can determine if pitch is wrong or other quality issues are present so they can be addressed before leaving the facility.
“I think you will see in the future in our industry in general…a lot of automation efforts,” said Gerstenberger. Doing so will help overcome labor challenges the global manufacturing sector continues to face while also help to create smart and efficient operations.
ContiTech Makes Additional Manufacturing Investments
Building the new manufacturing facility in Aguascalientes is just one of the ways ContiTech is investing in its ‘in the region, for the region’ strategy. Philip Nelles, Member of the Continental Executive Board and CEO of ContiTech, said the company is also investing in advanced materials and digital solutions, and developing new products that meet the specific needs of customers in the Americas region such as cooling hoses for data centers.
As part of these efforts, the company announced on October 20 plans to expand its operations at its Mount Pleasant, IA, manufacturing facility to create a state-of-the-art compounding center for hoses and belts for industrial applications. ContiTech said this investment will strengthen its internal compounding capabilities, optimize its North American mixing footprint and support future growth.
Two state-of-the-art mixing lines will be installed to ensure consistent quality and efficiency in the production of rubber-based products. They do so by thoroughly integrating ingredients, resulting in compounds with uniform physical and chemical properties which are ready for downstream processes such as extrusion, molding or calendaring.
About the Author
Sara Jensen
Executive Editor, Power & Motion
Sara Jensen is executive editor of Power & Motion, directing expanded coverage into the modern fluid power space, as well as mechatronic and smart technologies. She has over 15 years of publishing experience. Prior to Power & Motion she spent 11 years with a trade publication for engineers of heavy-duty equipment, the last 3 of which were as the editor and brand lead. Over the course of her time in the B2B industry, Sara has gained an extensive knowledge of various heavy-duty equipment industries — including construction, agriculture, mining and on-road trucks —along with the systems and market trends which impact them such as fluid power and electronic motion control technologies.
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