Fontaine announced at the Technology and Maintenance Council Spring Meeting in Tampa, Fla., that it is leveraging its long-established military refurbishing business to offer the Renew flatbed trailer rebuilding program for commercial truck fleets.
Todd Anderson, vice president and general manager for the Renew program, said Fontaine can do just about anything necessary to turn an old worn-out flatbed trailer into a completely rebuilt unit with an entire second life ahead of it.
“At a glance, you cannot tell a 10-year-old Fontaine Renew flatbed from a new one,” Anderson said. “That’s because beyond simply rebuilding old trailers, we offer fleets a large menu of options to choose from, including upgrading older technology. We can, for example, replace older conventional taillights with new LED lamps if the fleet chooses to do so.”
Old trailers are brought to the company’s ISO 9001-certified refurbishing facility, where they are torn down, cleaned, sandblasted and rebuilt, going through 11 different work stations and a total of 152 fully documented detailed steps. Typical turnaround time for a rebuilt unit is about 60 days.
Anderson said full inspection procedures throughout the rebuilding process ensure that safety always is paramount and that any rebuild effort is ended instantly should a flatbed candidate prove to be unsafe for rebuilding. The Renew program is not limited to Fontaine trailers; any brand of flatbed trailer is eligible.
“The Renew program gives fleets the ability to acquire a virtually new flatbed trailer for about one-third the cost of a new unit while recycling raw materials and helping the environment,” Anderson said.
