Welcome to Benz Companies
We don't just provide the product. We provide Engineered Solutions.
Benz Air Engineering was founded in 1956 as Benz Company with the purchase of the manufacturers' representative business operated by Arthur E. Nelson. Founder Donald L. Benz, P.E., was employed by the Portland office of Trane Company from 1948 until 1956. Our office moved from downtown Portland to our present address in 1964. Benz Air Engineering Company incorporated in 1972. Our president, Kevin Marple, joined the firm in 1987 after extensive experience as project manager with Natkin Company.Thomas Benz, our vice-president, joined the firm in 1977; he expanded the architectural products coverage.
The mechanical division, directed by Donald L. Benz, P.E., is the sales/engineering representative for various manufacturers. Our activities are directed approximately 60% toward building and construction and 40% toward industry. We specialize in equipment that moves, cleans, heats, cools, dries, and humidifies air, and we have wide experience in industrial air cleaning. We have file references to hundreds of equipment applications dating from 1956 to the present which continue to serve our customers. We provide professional design and installation to industry customers for exhaust, HVAC, and air cleaning systems when proper equipment application requires this service.
The architectural division, directed by Thomas Benz, represents manufacturers of commercial items generally covered in CSI Section 10. This equipment includes: Roof hatches & access doors, Toilet compartments, Lockers, Postal specialties, Washroom accessories, Hand dryers, Baby changing stations, and Medicine cabinets.
Company Personnel
- Donald L. Benz, P.E., Founder
- Kevin L. Marple, President
- Thomas F. Benz, Vice-President
- Bill Peterson, Mechanical Sales, Washington
- Katrina Johnston, Sales and Office Manager
- Scott Bossert, Office/Sales Assistant
- Ron Marple, Service Technician
- Dianne Morgan, Bookkeeper
Our company mission is to assure that each piece of equipment we supply to our customers continues to operate efficiently over its lifetime. To ensure this goal, we offer engineering and service capabilities, we keep complete job files on all equipment sales, and we stock critical service parts and maintain limited warehouse space for important components and parts.
Benz Air Engineering operates from a converted vintage residence at 3822 S.W. Corbett Avenue, approximately one mile south of Portland's city center. The office has off-street parking and a loading/unloading area, a copy center, and approximately 750 square feet of warehouse.