History

Benchmark started by providing Project Management in the automotive industry.  Planning and managing multi-million-dollar assembly line equipment outages with tight deadlines and precise tolerances for quality.  Upon demonstrating the ability to complete the outages and beating the schedule getting production on line and product out the door for clients.

Benchmark integrated our proactive, driving project management style into the municipal and governmental processes.  The result was that a stalled project that was about to fall apart and have another Fortune 500 company leave the city was turned around and the $300 million world headquarters for Owens Corning was built in downtown Toledo and completed ahead of schedule.

Other success followed as other stalled City projects were evaluated, planned and completed on time and under budget.  This lead to Benchmark thinking out of the box to design a site for a new assembly plant when everyone else said it could not be done.  As a result, there is a new $1.2 billion Chrysler Jeep assembly plant in Toledo.

Benchmark carved this management philosophy into the Broadband industry and started its longest customer relationship by managing, designing, permitting and surveying the $150 million Buckeye CableSystem Toledo Rebuild.

As crunch time neared, Benchmark was called in to plan and execute the City of Toledo’s Year 2000 (Y2K) compliance.  All of the City’s computers were upgraded and fully tested before December, and the New Year passes silently with no issues for the City of Toledo due to Benchmark’s project management.

Benchmark breaks out on the frontier of business High Speed Data (HSD) for AT&T Broadband in 5 major markets of Miami, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Denver and Jacksonville spear heading the launch of new high margin business service HSD.  While continuing its design and construction management for Buckeye CableSystem’s rebuild projects in Toledo and Bedford, MI.

Dave Wallace, PE, President of Benchmark Engineering wins the 2001 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.   While still maintaining a significant Broadband/telecommunications role in the Upgrade projects for Charter Communications throughout the Michigan Region. Benchmark exhibited its diversity through major projects in environmental, structural, and mechanical design projects.

Tim O’Brien, PE takes over as President of Benchmark Engineering Group.

In the lean year, Benchmark’s concepts, designs and bid documents resulted in well-defined and competitive contractor bidding for our client’s projects where a $100,000 project was awarded with just $5 difference in bids.

Benchmark expands our Commercial High-Speed Internet Proactive Surveying services for Comcast in Chicago, surveying over 13,000 businesses in the western suburbs.

Then, on September 29, Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, flooding New Orleans.  Again, Tim O’Brien responded to FEMA in response to the disaster, developing a new FEMA PA housing program for temporary housing for schools and universities cumulating in a front-page USA Today article on how the universities were able to reopen with over 66% of students returning in January 2007.

Tim O’Brien & Dale Leisenheimer gave back to their old high school alma matter with new varsity athletic stadium design and master plan for Central Catholic High School.

Tim O’Brien once again responded to FEMA in New Orleans to return and clean up the eligibility and grants request funding on some complicated, large-scale projects in order to get approval and construction underway.

Benchmark Engineering Group, Inc.  celebrates 15 years of business for through the roller coaster ride of industries expansions and contractions, automotive woes, high commodity prices, and telecom slowdowns.  throughout the ups and downs, Benchmark has averaged 15 full time employees, just over $2 million per year in revenues and has been responsible for over $20 million in projects each year.

Benchmark has been focusing on the many relocation and consolidation projects occurring all across the automotive industry including Dana Corporation’s Manufacturing Footprint Optimization program of relocating process lines.

Benchmark continues the long-term client relationship with Buckeye CableSystem and takes on some of the most difficult projects including redesigning and replacing a major fiber optic connection over the High Level Bridge in downtown Toledo during a major renovation of the bridge structure.

Benchmark continues to work with industrial clients on major redesigns of equipment and facilities for multiple cost and energy saving projects for Johns Manville and Worthington Steel.

Lucas County and the Toledo Mud Hens invest in downtown Toledo with the new Hensville development and Benchmark provided the design and management to rework and install a new fiber optic network for the entire development for Buckeye CableSystem.

Benchmark again spearheaded the design and permitting for Buckeye Telesystem to connect over 70 Verizon Cell Towers with high speed fiber optic network throughout the northwest Ohio area.

Benchmark Engineering Group, Inc. celebrates 25 years of success in both our and our client’s businesses.