Beneficial Newsletter – December 2019
Employee Spotlight
Robin Menc—Project Associate
Robin comes to us with 16 years experience of providing excellent customer service as well as employee support at Lowes. She was the Manager of the Front End, Hardware, Tools, Plumbing, Electrical, Credit, and On-line fulfillment. Robin was also the District Trainer to ensure administrative audit compliance. Often referred to as “the Solution Center” by fellow employees and customers.
As part of our Projects department, Robin has many different responsibilities. She fulfills customer’s parts orders, assists our Project Mangers, and works with General Contractors to organize contracts and related lien waivers, affidavits, and necessary agreements. Robin also assists with tracking our inventory.
Outside of Beneficial Systems, Robin can be found teaching dance at Studio Energy & Motion or in the woods hunting with her husband.
Winter Is Here
As Vanilla Ice so famously rapped, “Ice ice baby…”, it’s that time of year where the freezing temperatures can affect your fuel site operation. Here are a few items to remember:
1. Winter Additive—Make sure to treat your fuel with a Cold Filter Plugging Point (CFPP) additive. They are designed to improve the vehicle operability in extreme temperatures. These additives can also be used in combination with Wax Anti-Settling Additives (WASA) to improve performance.
2. Filter Freezing—Some petroleum filters are designed to remove particulates and water from your fuel. A small amount of this water may be hanging out in your filter and freeze at these low temperatures. If this happens, you can unscrew the filter and take it inside to warm up and thaw out, enabling you to start fueling again.
3. Mechanical Leak Detectors—When it gets colder the mechanical leak detectors on pressurized fuel systems (ones with STPs in tanks and no PLLD) need additional time to run their tests. So drivers have to delay fueling 2 or 3 seconds longer than normal once activating the system.
4. Faulty DEF Heaters—We spoke to Isaiah Becher, Technical Support with Kleerblue DEF Storage & Dispensing Systems, and he gave us the following tip: “Tis the season to check heaters! Much like pipes freezing in the winter is a homeowner’s worst nightmare, Diesel Exhaust Fluid is 32.5% Urea and the rest is deionized water, which means that if it freezes, it expands! But the good news is it doesn’t freeze until around 12°F. The best preventable maintenance this time of the year is to check that the dispenser heaters are in good working order.”
If you need instructions on how to check your heaters, give our Service team a call!
Working Kindly
Being kind to others is something that positively impacts someone’s life, while brightening your day. Numerous studies and reports suggest that ‘random acts of kindness’ will boost your mood and morale. Research from the University of Warwick revealed that happy people are 12 percent more productive at work than unhappy people. In our fast paced world, people can get wrapped up in the chaos and forget kindness, in both personal and professional settings.
Sam Parker, co-founder of InspireYourPeople.com, gives his recommendations on how to work kindly:
- Remove the ego. Let go of any entitlement and remember our work is always about making things better for someone else.
- Give others time. Give them our time patiently and give them more of their time back by having a sense of urgency for their day.
- Remember our options. We always have choices in how we respond to someone/thing. Pause. Think. Choose helpful.
“A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.” – Amelia Earhart
As we start this new decade, we challenge all of you to focus on kindness. Be the reason someone smiles today!
Ron Sledd Appointed As PEI Treasurer
In October, Beneficial Systems attended the 69th annual convention and trade show in Atlanta. This convention gives Beneficial the opportunity to meet with Alliance Partners, Manufacturers, and industry experts. It is four days of learning, networking, and various industry events.
This year was special. We witnessed our Co-President, Ron Sledd, sworn in as treasurer of Petroleum Equipment Institute (PEI). PEI is an international trade association whose members manufacture, distribute and service petroleum marketing and liquid handling equipment. Ron had previously served on The Executive Committee and board of directors representing District 2. He served as chairman of the PEI Education & Convention Committee and is a member of the Commonwealth PEI 10-Group. “PEI is fortunate, indeed, to have fantastic professionals who volunteer their time and lend their expertise to the industry we all love. But I can’t think of anyone I respect and appreciate more than Ron Sledd. Ron was one of the first members I met when I joined the association’s staff 10 years ago. In the years since, I’ve personally benefited from Ron’s friendship and expertise. And I couldn’t be more excited that he has agreed to serve as the association’s 2020 treasurer.”
Rick Long, PEI Executive Vice President and General Counsel Beneficial Systems has been a member of PEI since 2005. We have multiple team
members that are currently and have served on a PEI committee. Alex Stuart serves on the Vehicle Maintenance Fluids Equipment Committee, Heidi Petty is the chairwoman for the Education & Convention Committee, and Melissa Rogers served as chairwoman for PEI Women.
When asked about her thoughts on Ron’s new position, Melissa had this to say, “We’re so proud of Ron being appointed as Treasurer! He loves to soak up facts and figures and explanations. Then, his natural inclination is to take that knowledge and help somebody with it. That’s what he does for us, our customers and our partners. He’s such a hard worker, and he believes in PEI, so he’ll do a great job. But
I think what will benefit the PEI members and staff most is his manner – his way of dealing with people. We’ve gotten so much out of PEI over the years, it is time to give back. Good work, Ron!”
Chris Mills Earns New Certifications
We want to congratulate Chris Mills on his recent FSC3000 Fuel Site Controller and Petro Vend Fuel Island Terminals installation, configuration, and troubleshooting certification. In addition to OPW, Chris earned his Veeder Root TLS Installer—Level I Veeder Root certification.
Chris has been with Beneficial Systems since July of 2018. He is very technically minded and has become a great leader for our Service team. We appreciate his willingness to learn and continued efforts to keep our customer’s fuel sites operational.
Parts, Parts and More Parts
As a distributor of many product lines, it has become difficult to maintain a yearly price list. Our manufacturers release their prices at different times of the year and in some cases multiple times a year. Starting in 2020, Beneficial Systems will notify our customers when each line has been released. We will issue you a new price list and note what product line has changed. We appreciate your understanding!
2020
It is always hard to believe that another year has gone by and did so quickly. We want to say thank you to all of our customers! We appreciate that you trust us with one of your most valuable assets. We do not take that lightly! We are hoping that 2020 brings you and yours confidence and appreciation. A new year rich with the blessings of love, joy, warmth, and laughter.
Our goal here at Beneficial for 2020 is to create achievements that make lives easier – for everybody we work with – our staff and our customers!