Fontaine Fifth Wheel North America has promoted long-time employee Steve Mann to vice president of engineering, the company announced. In this role, Mann is responsible for all corporate engineering functions, including research and development, product engineering, manufacturing engineering and industrial engineering.
Mann joined Fontaine in December 1998 as manager of product engineering. He was promoted to manager of research and development in 2004. Mann has led the effort to design innovative products that meet Fontaine customers’ needs for improved safety, quality, performance and cost-effectiveness, according to the announcement.
He has earned seven patents for the company, including a unique welding method for assembling slide rails, innovative slide rail stop blocks, an integrated beam mount fifth wheel and a composite top plate fifth wheel.
“Steve was the driving force behind designing and equipping the state-of-the-art R&D lab we opened at our new headquarters in 2009,” says Henry Bell, president. “Over the last six months, he has also been given responsibility for product engineering, as well as safety and quality systems. I’m proud to recognize his accomplishments with this promotion.”
Prior to joining Fontaine, Mann had been an engineer with Anderson Electric, a Hubbell Power Systems Company, and Kent Corporation, a steel shelving manufacturer. He earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Mann is registered as a professional engineer in the state of Alabama, and is active in the Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC).
