The Fontaine Fifth Wheel Group has expanded to include Fontaine Coupling Solutions, a new company dedicated to the terminal tractor (yard truck) market.

Terry Mennen, who has served as a vice president for Fontaine Fifth Wheel since 2007, has been named president of the new operating company. Other Fontaine veterans on the management team include Robbie Laney, director of sales, and Steven Alldredge, product manager.

A team led by Laney began studying the terminal tractor market and analyzing customer needs more than two years ago. The team has narrowed its focus from more than a dozen initial design ideas down to one core design. That design has been refined based on feedback from more than 100 customers that use terminal tractors in various market segments, including warehouse distribution, industrial, and port and rail (intermodal) transport.

“Our new product is being designed from the ground up specifically for the terminal tractor market," Mennen says. "That’s never been done before.”

The company plans to introduce a new product later in 2014.

Based in Trussville, Ala., Fontaine Coupling Solutions is part of the Fontaine Fifth Wheel Group, which is a Marmon Highway Technologies company. MHT companies are part of The Marmon Group, a Berkshire Hathaway company.