Fontaine Modification, a provider of post-production truck services for original equipment manufacturers, dealers, and fleets, has begun work on a 40,000-square-foot addition to the existing 27,000-square-foot truck modification centre in Laredo, Texas.

Its Laredo location handles trucks that are assembled at Freightliner and Navistar plants in Mexico. As these trucks cross the border, they are all processed through a marshalling yard for delivery within the United States and Canada. Fontaine’s Laredo operation is connected to this yard, enabling Fontaine to work on the trucks while they remain in the OEM’s delivery system.

The center, led since 2018 by Juan Salazar, director of operations, runs two full-time shifts of engineers and assemblers to process 1,500 trucks per month.

“Traffic through the Laredo modification center has increased dramatically and is starting to strain our current building’s capacity,” says Jamil Young, president, Fontaine Modification medium and heavy truck operations. “The additional production footprint provided by the expansion will bring much-needed relief to space constraints, allowing us to continue to improve efficiency, while the addition of full-service paint booth will contribute to expanding our service offerings.”

The Laredo operation has traditionally focused on high-volume fleet services. Once the expansion is complete, Fontaine anticipates offering heavier vocational truck modifications, as well.

Work is expected to be complete in early 2023. The facility will remain open and at full production throughout construction.