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New eras, next levels – Parallel 44 relocates to Door County
May 18, 2026
MANITOWOC – In a business built on preventing corrosion, Heresite Protective Coatings and Brazil-based WEG Group are establishing new connections – officially celebrating WEG’s acquisition of the Manitowoc company with a ribbon cutting at its new facility May 4.
For 90 years, General Manager Ron Bruggeman said Heresite has served a niche market, providing its clients with – according to heresite.com – “the world’s best corrosion protection” for a broad range of industrial cases.
“What Heresite focuses on is corrosion protection for air conditioning equipment on a commercial and industrial scale,” he said. “We blend raw materials to make coatings, use those coatings and apply them to pieces of equipment.”
Serving customers across more than 40 different countries, Bruggeman said Heresite’s acquisition by the WEG Group presents opportunity for both companies.
“Even though [Heresite] has been around for 90 years, it’s a growth opportunity,” he said.
Rafael Guerreiro Torezan, managing director of WEG Coatings, said the company got its start 65 years ago manufacturing electric motors and has since expanded, becoming the world leader in the category last year.
“Over the years, we started [producing] different electrical equipment, like transformers, automation, all that relates to energy transition,” he said.
Torezan said WEG’s coatings division was initially established in-house to serve the company’s internal coating needs.
“But it evolved into a larger business-to-business organization,” he said. “[So], for 43 years we have had an industrial coatings division.”
“For many years,” Torezan said other facets of WEG’s business have been active in the U.S. – including power generation, farming and agribusiness, mining and sustainability, per weg.net – but the coatings division’s acquisition of Heresite marks its “first step into the United States.”
“We’re really excited about expansion opportunities and investing in the U.S.,” he said. “It’s a great time for us.”
Commitment to its new community
When WEG expressed interest in Heresite roughly one year ago, Sales and Marketing Manager Kayla Oehldrich said they wanted the company, but not its previous building – located at 822 S. 14th St. in Manitowoc.
“When WEG acquired us…, they did not want to acquire our old building,” she said. “They bought us, but we needed to find a new home.”
Heresite’s new building at 825 E. Albert St., Oehldrich said, is smaller than its former location, but offers opportunity for increased efficiency nonetheless.
“We had 90,000 square feet, [and] we moved into a 44,000-square-foot building…, [but] we believe we will gain efficiencies because of improved workflow maps,” she said. “We’re all on one floor now.”
Beyond improving Heresite’s workflow, Bruggeman said the relocation represents a new chapter for WEG in Manitowoc.
“On day one, [WEG] told the previous owner they’re committed to this community, [and] they would keep [Heresite’s] jobs that were here,” he said. “[WEG] has invested a lot of money to move [roughly] four miles [across town]…, but it was really important for them to demonstrate they’re here to support the community [and] for growth.”
With WEG taking up residence in a historically “underutilized” building, Manitowoc Mayor Justin Nickles said he’s happy to see new investment come through areas of the city with untapped potential.
“In my 17 years, I’ve never even walked through here,” he said. “So, it’s great to see the investment and the quality that’s going to be happening over here with WEG.”
WEG underscored its commitment to the Manitowoc community by donating $3,000 to Peter’s Pantry at the ribbon-cutting event.
“It’s our values,” Torezan said. “Whenever we come, we’re here for the long run. We want to grow in a very sustainable way, and a fundamental part of that [is] we add value to the community, we create jobs as we grow and also we care about the community as a whole.”
Unchanging color, process innovation
At its new location, Bruggeman said Heresite – now doing business as Heresite Protective Coatings-WEG Group – occupies two of the three industrial buildings in the complex.
In the larger of its two buildings, Bruggeman said Heresite employees are responsible for receiving uncoated equipment, cleaning, coating and curing it before packing and shipping completed equipment back to their customers across the world.
“We take these large coils and basically suspend them over [a] table [where] we pump our coating through, so we get complete coverage,” he said. “Then, we have a large oven and two small ovens to do the baking process. When we’re done, we put it back in the crates it came in, and get ready for shipping.”
In highly corrosive environments, Bruggeman said uncoated industrial HVAC machinery lasts months as compared to years when properly protected.
The color of Heresite’s coating, he said, “is actually a brand with the same strength as the word ‘Kleenex’” in their industry.
“It’s called ‘Heresiting a coil,’” he said. “In our industry, you’ll hear people say, ‘I need that coil Heresite,’ [and] if they don’t see the brown color, they know it’s not done right or it’s not going to work.”
Despite the unchanging color, Bruggeman said Heresite continues to innovate its process.
“With the relocation, we’ve also innovated,” he said. “We’re now using a laser to do sandblasting.”
At times, Bruggeman said metal coils have to be sandblasted to provide a smooth surface for coating.
“At the old building, we had a sandblasting cabinet,” he said. “[We had to] put somebody in a suit to go into a cabinet.”
Bruggeman said the laser-based sandblasting machine is not only safer – with less PPE required to operate – it is also significantly more portable.
“Only eye protection is required, and we get the same result,” he said. “We can [also] unplug this thing and take it wherever we need to, and that gives us flexibility.”
For more information on either WEG or Heresite, visit their aforementioned websites.
