FAIRLAWN, Ohio — After one year of operating under the Continental umbrella, the United States-based home of ContiTech continues to grow and refine its businesses, the company says.

“It has been an exciting first year filled with many of the elements inherent in a merger,” said Jim Hill, ContiTech NAFTA chief executive officer. “But I’m pleased that we’ve made steady progress, and we have minimized the growing and merger challenges with the forethought of an excellent plan. We continue to operate under that plan, adjusting as needed along our path. Still, the bottom line is that the merger has been better for our customers, and our goal is to continue that progress.”

A year ago, on Jan. 30, 2015, the regulatory authorities approved Continental’s acquisition of Veyance Technologies Inc. and “two great companies joined together and began to share their knowledge,” said Hans-Jürgen Duensing, member of Continental’s executive board and responsible for ContiTech division. “We are pleased with the progress that our North American operations have been able to achieve in just one year in spite of some of the downturns in some key global industries. We are confident that ContiTech NAFTA’s team will continue to grow.” Duensing was referring to, in particular, the mining, oil and gas industries that have had challenging years. “We will move forward and fine-tune our business plans as we move through 2016.”

Evidence by that is a recent announcement to spend about $7 million to expand operations at the hose plant in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Hill said, “This is in view of tough economic conditions, but we continue to work hard to control costs across the board. This year will certainly be another challenging one, but not one where it will significantly impact our plans.”