Juan Salazar has been promoted to facility manager of Fontaine Modification Fleet Services. The company said this is part of efforts to keep up with a large demand of trucks moving through its Laredo, TX, location.
Salazar spent the prior two years at Fontaine as lead process engineer in Laredo and supported that function at the company’s Statesville, NC, and Springfield, OH, modification centers.
As facility manager, Salazar is responsible for production planning, quality control, and achieving delivery, financial and employee safety goals. Specifically, he is spearheading the transition to a more efficient production process and the addition of a second shift to ensure that the Laredo center can handle the significant increase in truck volume.
Due to the hot truck market, the volume at Fontaine’s Laredo modification center has almost doubled from 600 trucks per month in January to about 1,100 per month in May.
“The truck industry is constantly changing and growing, and there is no limit to the types of applications our customers are coming to us for,” Salazar said. “I’m thankful for this opportunity and accept the challenge of leading the Laredo modification center to make sure we deliver the quality our customers expect.”
The Laredo modification center specializes in installing work systems, off-loading and electronics systems, vehicle tracking systems, safety equipment and graphics packages for heavy-duty trucks. The modification center supports Freightliner Trucks and Navistar manufacturing plants, utilizing ship-thru agreements with both OEMs.
To help the Laredo facility meet the increased demand for its truck modification services, Salazar led a change to more of an assembly-line production process where each technician specializes in one task or area before passing on the project to the next stage in the process. Salazar says this approach, the hiring of an additional 28 technicians and the addition of a second shift starting in June, will allow the facility to meet its commitments.
“We’re excited to welcome Juan to our Laredo facility management team during this time of increased demand for our services,” said Jamil Young, president, Fontaine Modification Fleet Services. “His quality assurance experience and focus on continuous improvement in production and safety make him the right person for this position.”
