Nercon Conveyor Systems ahead of the line

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

July 27, 2026

NEENAH/OCONTO – Though many consumers may not recognize the name, Vice President of Human Resources Steve Anklam said Nercon Conveyor Systems’ products are more common than they may realize – the result of the company’s 50-year commitment to delivering customized conveyor solutions for its customers. 

“Think of anything you would put in a cart when you go to the grocery store – cookies, crackers, juice, laundry soap – just about anything, packaged or not…, those are all our customers,” he said. “Think of any well-known brand – I’m sure we have conveyed it.”

After joining Nercon in 1996 – 20 years after its founding in ’76 – Anklam said he discovered for himself how extensive the conveying industry was.

“The first thing to remember is there are a lot of different kinds of conveyor systems, and, frankly, I didn’t know that when I first got hired,” he said. “It wasn’t until I started digging more into the marketing world [that I] realized there are a lot of different types of conveyor systems.”

Nercon’s primary focus in the conveyor industry, per nerconconveyors.com, is its consumer packaging market – such as food and beverage, health and beauty, pharmaceuticals and household cleaning products.

In serving a broad customer base, Anklam said the company differentiates itself by way of its customized system design and full-service delivery.

“We have to solve problems, and sometimes, some of the problems are tricky,” he said. “[We may be] trying to move their product into a sharp turn; or maybe it’s [going up] an incline…; or maybe there [is] some kind of freezer application or an oven.”

Because their systems support a wide range of applications, Anklam said Nercon’s tenured, in-house team of designers and engineers has become very skilled at customizing solutions for their clients. 

“We have a tremendous amount of good application engineers who have seen a lot over the years,” he said. “That can make a big difference for us compared to some of our competitors.”

Founded in Oshkosh, Anklam said Nercon grew to add an Oconto-based manufacturing plant to its operations in 1982.

However, he said Nercon’s current owner – “the founder’s son, actually, making for an easy transition” – decided the two locations’ proximity presented potential productivity problems.

“For efficiency’s sake, we ended up moving to Neenah in 2014,” he said. “We let attrition do its thing…, and then we had about seven people who remained.”

Anklam said Nercon made those seven employees “offers they couldn’t refuse” to transfer their years of skills and knowledge from Oshkosh to Oconto.

“And they all said ‘yes,’” he said. “We wanted their years of service, their expertise and so on in the plant in Oconto – and by bringing more people into Oconto, we needed more leadership. So, we utilized the leadership [team] that was once in Oshkosh – now it’s in Oconto.”

From an outside perspective, Anklam said Oconto may seem like an odd choice – but in being the founder’s hometown, it was obvious to him at the time.

“That’s where he grew up…, and he was proud of it,” he said. “We’ve just continued to invest in that plant with new equipment and more space, [and now], we have two locations that really aren’t too far apart. So, it’s not uncommon for our engineers to drive up to Oconto on a day trip if they need to look at one of their projects or meet with a customer.”

Clean, fast, self-efficient

Nercon’s Oconto plant and the abilities it offers the company, Anklam said, further differentiate the company in the market.

“We have a machine shop [and] a fabrication department where we cut our own steel – we do all that internally,” he said. “We [also] do our own powder-painting.”

Taking a project through each step of the manufacturing process, Anklam said, allows Nercon’s engineers to conduct quality checks consistently and adjust project priority when necessary.

“We can stop [a project] and start something else if we have to if there’s an emergency for a customer,” he said. “We’re not at the mercy of, say, a third party who might just put our order in the next line. We have that control, [and] we want to be able to control a lot of the process. The more we control, the [easier] we can offer better products and services to our customers.”

Anklam said the in-house fabrication further allows Nercon to conduct its own R&D – helping the company broaden its knowledge base internally.

“It’s not a big R&D department, but it allows them to either design new equipment or take existing equipment and make it better, make it more efficient, assemble it better, [etc.],” he said. “We have also [received] a couple of patents [because] of that.”

Throughout his tenure at Nercon, Anklam said he’s seen its R&D department design, build and introduce new technology to the market, allowing for a uniquely cyclical process.

“Because we have all that equipment there, our R&D people can actually enjoy their… machine shop area and try to make new things as a result,” he said. “I’ve seen new equipment go to market – things we need, things that came out of our shop, things we designed, and then we get chances to improve that design.”

As the food packaging industry has evolved, Anklam said, so, too, have Nercon’s responsibilities.

“Things are cleaner and faster,” he said. “The biggest thing is being able to clean things easily [and] clean things well.”

Calling on recent contaminated food recalls as an example, Anklam said situations like that can arise when the conveyor systems responsible for moving products aren’t properly cleaned.

“Something potentially wasn’t clean or wasn’t proper on the line,” he said. “It hasn’t happened to us… [because] we’re highly aware of that.”

Similar to the speed with which products are conveyed, Anklam said project turnaround has also hastened as customer demand increases.

“When I started here, lead times were about 14 weeks – now they’re down to six to eight, and we could even do faster than that, too, if we needed to,” he said. “The other thing is versatility, [because] a lot of companies look at how [to] take [an] existing line and maybe use it in a new way, instead of just throwing it in the recycle bin and replacing it.”

Telling the secret

Nercon’s continued ability to offer reliable, cutting-edge and customizable solutions to its customers, Anklam said, relies on the talents and dedication of its tenured workforce.

He said the company has succeeded at retaining its employees through internal career exploration and growth opportunities.

“One of the things we have implemented, actually, at both locations, is [developing] ways we can help people move up and promote them,” he said. “We want their jobs to be interesting.”

With numerous departments covering a wide range of professional skill sets, Anklam said there is no shortage of opportunities to keep employees engaged, therefore retaining their knowledge.

“We give them that opportunity to roll into different areas,” he said. “We’ve had electrical engineers move into the applications department role. We’ve had somebody who was in our estimating area, and he’s now in IT. Our current engineering manager was once one of our new hires back 12-13 years ago… So, we like to promote from within.”

Anklam said the foundational knowledge of its workforce – some having been with the company for more than 40 years – allows Nercon to look outside its own industry for new hires.

“Maybe they don’t have a conveyor background or conveyor experience, but they bring in great ideas, thoughts, concepts and things like that,” he said. “We combine that with what Nercon Conveyor is like, and you get some new ideas blended into the things we’ve been doing.”

Employee feedback on the fluidity of their roles, Anklam said, has been extremely positive – helping Nercon create a culture of genuine care for each other and the company.

“We want to give that opportunity for people to be at both locations, [have] different types of experiences [and] give them a chance to do different things,” he said. 

As Nercon continues to grow, Anklam said the company is making efforts to better market what it is and what its employees do – helping convey the opportunities it provides potential employees and the solutions it creates for customers.

“We’ve been trying to do a better job of getting our name in the community so they know who we are, what we do and why we do what we do, because somebody could find that very interesting,” he said. “I don’t want [Nercon] to be that ‘best-kept secret.’”

For more information on Nercon Conveyor Systems, visit nerconconveyors.com.