WCCO Belting Founder / Shorma Family

On April 1, 1954 , the founder of WCCO Belting, Inc. opened his doors as a private business owner. His name was Edward Shorma and his company was called the Wahpeton Shoe Hospital . That’s right! The founder of WCCO Belting began as his business career as a shoe cobbler in the basement of a clothing store in Wahpeton, North Dakota …and the rest is history.

By the early 1990’s, Mr. Shorma’s business had grown to eight different divisions operating out of a single 200,000 square foot facility with more than 1000 employees – and just one management team running it all. The company was supplying rubber, fabric, steel, plastic and wood products to nearly a dozen different industries. By this time, the original business name had also been changed to Wahpeton Canvas Company -- hence the WCCO name and logo still used by WCCO Belting.

It was in 1992 that Mr. Shorma and several of his children who had joined him in the business decided to separate the eight operating divisions into stand alone businesses in their own facilities, with their own board of directors (some family and some non-family) and their own management teams. It was at this time that WCCO Belting, Inc. was formally established as a stand alone company to service its growing list of customers.

Today, WCCO Belting, Inc. has grown into an internationally acclaimed business serving customers in the agricultural, industrial, recycling and waste handling, package and materials handling industries, and more!

On behalf of all past and present WCCO employees, we extend a sincere congratulations and thank you to the Shorma family for all they have done to improve the lives of so many people.