Company

Where did the name “BendPak” come from?

BendPak's name (originally Bend-Pak) is a blend of two of our flagship products created by our predecessor company, Quality Machine & Associates (QMA). Back in the 1960s, QMA was a family-owned precision machining company located in Simi Valley, California. QMA's business strategy was to provide outstanding products and services through the use of highly specialized machinery and tools, such as state-of-the-art CNC turning centers, manual lathes, milling machines and countless others.

Although QMA was mainly a so-called "job shop" that fulfilled steel machining duties for other suppliers, the employees were not afraid to occasionally invent their own specialized tools and equipment to solve the unique problems of the day. Some of these modest tinkerings were useful and creative enough to actually be marketed and sold by QMA itself. That's how the 5ivePak™ came into existence. The 5ivePak™ was a never-been-done, all-in-one tool: a combination adaptable coil-spring compressor, removal tool, bench press, portable u-joint press, come-along, twin I-beam bushing press, ball joint press and all-in-one gear puller. Plus, it had all the potential to be the very first true automotive aftermarket specialty tool.

A few more tool offerings later, the QMA team put together a superior exhaust tube bending machine. Dubbed the "Burgundy Bullet," this new tube bender was introduced to the muffler shop industry at an automotive trade show back in 1979. That's when we saw the need for a more focused marketing strategy and decided that the QMA name had long run its course. For our new company brand, we wanted to convey strength while simultaneously providing a general idea about our products. We thought the name "Bend-Pak" fit the bill perfectly.

Pipe benders + 5ivePak™ = Bend-Pak™

It wasn't too long after we settled on the name that things really started to take off, so by all accounts it looks like we made the right decision. Although we refreshed our brand image and dropped the hyphen in 2005, the BendPak banner has been our constant companion through 50 years of automotive service equipment excellence.