News & Events

For information about developments and news pertaining to our company, please check here often to view our latest news:

Feature-Rich Benchmate Release Now Available

Benchmate Adds New Clients While Others Expand Use of System

Benchmate's Bob Nichols Interviewed by Better Process

Loyal Customers Expand Use of Benchmate Maintenance Software

Six Companies Select Benchmate for Maintenance Management

Energy Giant Kinder Morgan to Manage Maintenance with Benchmate

Benchmate Moves to Improved Company Facility

Benchmate Launches Newly Designed Web Site

Benchmate Improves User Convenience with New Release
Benchmate Presents to American Foundry Society

Feature-Rich Benchmate Release Now Available

Complimentary Evaluation of Maintenance Software Version 8.0 Offered Online

Benchmate Systems, Inc., provider of maintenance management software solutions since 1985, unveils release version 8.0 of the company’s maintenance system currently available for new clients or those upgrading to the new release.  Built on the existing, robust Benchmate platform, version 8.0 features expanded functionality designed to improve the user’s experience with the software tool. 

      

No cost, no-obligation evaluation versions of Benchmate 8.0 are available to give users a first-hand look of how Benchmate may work in their maintenance environment.  The evaluation software allows equipment data, jobs, spare parts, etc., to be entered and used within the system.  Downloads are available by visiting http://www.benchmate.com/benchmate_eval.html.  

      

Response to beta testing and initial roll-out of the new version is tremendously positive.   Bill Baxter, maintenance superintendent at American Gypsum’s Eagle Plant, says, “The upgrade process was extremely simply and user-friendly.  We like the list views in version 8.0 because you can view a lot more data in one screen.  The best improvement is the ability to view the program ‘full screen’ and the window can be re-sized to user preference.”

Specifically, these key features highlight the release:

Additionally, the spare parts functionality within Benchmate has been simplified.  Parts needed for a job can now be listed on both PM procedures and regular work orders.  This list is transferred to the parts used window in the service log when closing a job so only the quantity actually used needs to be entered.

And, Benchmate version 8.0 now includes a Response Time report showing the scheduled date and time along with the actual completion date and time for each job. This particular feature is important to those in the healthcare and facilities management industries for maintenance request reporting.

Benchmate Adds New Clients While Others Expand Use of System

Benchmate Systems, Inc., provider of maintenance management software solutions since 1985, announces that eight companies recently selected Benchmate as their system for maintenance management.  Two existing clients expanded their use of Benchmate by adding the system to additional locations.  Joining the Benchmate family of client companies are the following organizations:

These businesses have expanded their use of Benchmate:  AmerisourceBergen now has Benchmate at nine of their facilities while Lighthouse for the Blind has extended the system to include two additional facilities.

Each business and organization will leverage Benchmate’s functionality for work order and preventive maintenance management.  Maintenance tasks and activity related to cost, materials used and when work is performed will be tracked within the system. 

"The trend toward simplistic maintenance management continues as evidenced by these companies that have selected Benchmate,” says Bob Nichols, president of Benchmate.  “In very little time, our system can be implemented, users trained and the application put to immediate use.  That’s one of the attractions of Benchmate for new customers while ease of use influences companies to expand their use of the system.  We’re committed to keeping Benchmate as a logical choice for the maintenance management needs of companies, facilities and organizations with small to medium work forces.”

 

Benchmate's Bob Nichols Interviewed by Better Process

Ken Rayment from Better Process interviews Benchmate founder and president, Bob Nichols, about the state of today's industrial manufacturing market and the roll maintenance management software plays.  The podcast is found through this link:  http://betterprocess.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=296798

Loyal Customers Expand Use of Benchmate Maintenance Software

Benchmate Systems, Inc., provider of maintenance management software solutions since 1985, announces that several loyal client companies have recently upgraded or expanded their use of the Benchmate system for maintenance management.  The following organizations are included:

By expanding, many of these companies represent additional sites of existing Benchmate customers, have upgraded to a new version of the system or added functionality they had not previously used such as bar coding, inventory management or lockout/tagout features. 

“When customers extend their use of Benchmate either through functionality or to other divisions and sister plant sites, that tells us the product is strong and working well,” says Bob Nichols, president of Benchmate.  “Building loyalty through personal relationships and listening to client needs is key to our ability to deliver maintenance software that gets the job done.” 

Six Companies Select Benchmate for Maintenance Management

Benchmate Systems, Inc., provider of maintenance management software solutions since 1985, announces that several companies have recently chosen Benchmate as their system for maintenance management.  Joining the Benchmate family of client companies are the following organizations:

Benchmate’s work order management and preventive maintenance functionality will be utilized by each business to manage work performance and track equipment maintenance activity.  Ease of use and quick deployment without time-consuming and expensive implementations continue to prevail as chief reasons why companies like these select Benchmate.

“We’re very pleased that these six companies have chosen Benchmate for their maintenance operations,” says Bob Nichols, president of Benchmate.  “As leaders in their respective markets, each business came to the same conclusion that Benchmate was the right solution for their unique maintenance requirements.  We welcome them and look forward to establishing personal and lasting relationships with each company.” 

Energy Giant Kinder Morgan to Manage Maintenance with Benchmate

Benchmate Systems, Inc., provider of maintenance management software solutions since 1985, announces that Kinder Morgan Petcoke L.P. has selected Benchmate’s maintenance system for eight of the company’s terminal site locations on the Texas Gulf Coast.  Chosen for its user friendly interface and simplistic layout for quick adaptation, the Benchmate system met the needs of Kinder Morgan over more complex maintenance applications. 

Kinder Morgan will use Benchmate primarily to manage work order activity, preventive maintenance and work histories of critical conveyor and related equipment at each terminal location.  Routine maintenance work pertaining to gear boxes, power train equipment, bearings, conveyors, belts and related component parts will be fully tracked and managed in Benchmate.  System administrators and site managers at each of the eight petcoke terminal locations will have responsibility of managing the maintenance system.  Future use of the system will involve inventory management and purchasing across mutli-sites to leverage Benchmate’s capability of managing common equipment parts that are interchangeable from site to site.

 “We needed a system to improve our way of managing maintenance which had pretty much been a manual process,” says Ray Wiggins, Kinder Morgan project manager.  “In the past, we really didn’t have a system except for some card files and a couple of spreadsheets.  After seeing a demo of Benchmate, we knew almost instantly the system was for us.  No major modifications or complex formatting was required and that’s exactly what we wanted.”

About Kinder Morgan Petcoke L.P.

Kinder Morgan Petcoke L.P. is responsible for handling over 10 million tons of petroleum coke through several terminals located on the Texas Gulf Coast. In addition to petroleum coke, it also unloads aggregates from ocean going vessels and loads soda ash and potash to export vessels.  Kinder Morgan Petcoke owns General Stevedores, a company that provides labor and equipment to load and unload vessels at several Texas ports. It also owns Kinder Morgan Engineering and Conveying, a division that designs, fabricates, and erects dry bulk conveying systems utilizing a 70,000 square foot fabrication shop located on the northwest side of Houston.  More information about Kinder Morgan can be found by visiting www.kindermorgan.com. 

Benchmate Moves to Improved Company Facility

Benchmate Systems, Inc., provider of maintenance management software solutions since 1985, recently relocated the company headquarters from Bellevue to Coupeville, Washington.  The strategic move provides Benchmate with newer facilities conducive for product development and timely customer support.  All major functional areas of the company including administration are centralized in the new Coupeville office. 

“By relocating to Coupeville, we were able to extensively improve our facility over our former office location,” says Bob Nichols, president of Benchmate.  “Our new office, which is situated along Penn Cove that stretches to the Puget Sound, is not only environmentally pleasing, but convenient for travel out of nearby Seattle.  We’re extremely pleased with this location and have successfully made our move without disrupting any client projects or customer service support needs.”

Contact information for Benchmate has changed to:

              Benchmate Systems, Inc.

              P.O. Box 669

              Coupeville, Washington  98239

              800-466-1899 or 360-678-8358

The company’s primary email address, info@benchmate.com and web site, www.Benchmate.com, remain unchanged.

Benchmate Launches Newly Designed, Visitor-Friendly Web Site

Benchmate Systems, Inc., provider of maintenance management software solutions since 1985, recently launched a completely rebuilt Web site.  The overall design of the site was developed to create visual appeal in support of the Benchmate brand and enhance the visitor’s experience with easy to find and clearly presented information.  Numerous Benchmate product knowledge downloads are well organized and accessible for those interested in quickly obtaining in-depth system information.  Online forms are available for those who desire to be contacted or for existing clients who need to submit product support questions.  A new section has been added which highlights client successes from their use of the Benchmate maintenance software system.  Additionally, news pertaining to product releases, the company and other related topics will be published routinely via the new site. 

“In creating a new Web site, we focused our efforts on the visitor’s experience,” says Bob Nichols, president, Benchmate.  “We recognize that people have little time to invest in perusing Web sites.  By presenting our product information in a convenient and practical format, we’re helping visitors make the most of their time while giving them exactly what they need.”

Benchmate Improves User Convenience with New Release

Benchmate Systems, Inc. recently announced the release of version 7.05 of the company’s maintenance management software system. The newest features added to the system were developed to enhance user convenience in the areas of data importing and maintenance reporting at the equipment component level. With Benchmate’s independent importing utility, users are easily able to build databases from other packages or systems without interruption to the Benchmate application. Data importing can occur at any time without having to shutdown Benchmate. The new utility updates records already in the database as well as adding new ones. This capability allows data to be merged from several sources or for a particular data item (e.g.: “unit cost”) to be updated with current information.

Maintenance schedules and activity for equipment components (e.g.: motor, control, compressor) can be broken out of the overall maintenance activity. Component as well as equipment identity is now available in Job Schedules, Cost Summaries and Completed Jobs reports.

This new functionality has become a standard within the Benchmate maintenance software solution package. The Benchmate release version 7.05 is currently available and is being shipped to new customers. Clients with annual maintenance agreements are receiving the new version as a system upgrade.

Benchmate Presents to American Foundry Society

Bob Nichols, president of Benchmate, recently completed a presentation and product demonstration to the Oregon Chapter of the American Foundry Society. In his presentation, Nichols provided an overview of the Benchmate CMMS software including primary functionality and user benefits.

Enhancing his presentation was an actual client case study that outlined how a wallboard production company moved from a manual maintenance process to a fully computerized operation. The case study not only highlighted how Benchmate addressed the client’s maintenance needs, but how the system benefited key personnel within the operations department to ensure consistently high uptime. Nichols capped off the presentation to society members by demonstrating the Benchmate system for all attendees.

The American Foundry Society was founded in 1896 and has grown to become an international organization with approximately 10,000 members in 47 countries.Chapters are spread throughout the United States where member companies and individuals have opportunity to learn from peers, industry experts and others during monthly meetings.

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