Our Story

A Small Apartment in Point Loma, California

Armed with a portfolio of customers I could convince to come along, a $5,000 loan, and a burning desire to build something of my own, I launched International Air Tool Company in the spring of 2011 from a spare bedroom in our 1,300-square-foot apartment.

Many of my previous customers followed me, and our early efforts to build an online store paid off. It didn't take long before packages overtook the living room floor.

Our First Industrial Space

Early success soon called for a bigger space. In 2013, we moved the business out of our home and into our first industrial location in San Diego's Midway District. We chose it because it put us close to the shipyards, local metal fabricators, and our customers across the border in Tijuana.

New accounts and growing online sales led us to hire our first employees. My wife, Cinnamon, joined the company soon after to help with payables, receivables, and customer service when other employees were overloaded.

Growing Beyond Air Tools

As we added more metalworking accounts, customers began asking us to help manage the indirect materials that kept their production lines running. We learned that the products were only the beginning. The real value came from understanding the application, helping solve problems, and keeping the right materials on hand. That pushed us beyond air tools and into consumables, hard-to-find product sourcing, and custom-built vendor-managed inventory programs.

We brought more stock into our warehouse, started making just-in-time deliveries, and began visiting customer plants every week to see their applications firsthand. Before long, we had delivery routes running throughout San Diego County and into the Inland Empire.

Expansion Into Mexico

By 2017, we had a solid group of customers in Baja California, but we were still delivering products to their U.S. freight forwarders and invoicing their U.S.-based companies. Buyers in Tijuana kept telling us that we could serve them better if we set up shop in Mexico, delivered directly to their plants, and provided a Mexican invoice.

We listened and formed our own Mexican company, Herramientas Neumaticas y Suministros Industriales S. de R.L.

We eventually closed the Mexican operation, but we have no regrets. We learned a great deal, made many friends, and gained firsthand insight into the way maquiladoras buy, import, and operate. Those lessons still shape the way we serve Baja customers today.

The COVID Pivot and Ecommerce Boom

The pandemic threw a major monkey wrench into our operation. We sent employees home and took turns coming into the office, often with only one person there at a time. As the rules changed, we changed with them and did our best to protect our employees while continuing to serve our customers.

One unexpected result was the rapid growth of our online business. Traditional face-to-face sales slowed sharply, but online orders increased almost overnight as more industrial buyers moved their purchasing to the internet. The e-commerce system we had been building for years helped carry us through.

That same year, International Air Tool made the Inc. 5000 list for the first time.

Moving to San Marcos

Growth brought another move. Our Midway location was split between two levels, had no grade-level door, and offered very little room for large delivery trucks. With pallets arriving constantly, we needed a proper warehouse.

In 2022, we moved to San Marcos. The new location gave us roll-up doors, better freight access, more room for inventory, and the space to serve local, national, and international customers more efficiently.

Back on the Inc. 5000

International Air Tool was named to the Inc. 5000 list for the second time.

Small by Design

International Air Tool was originally built to be an even mix of online business and personal relationships. Over the years, more buyers have chosen to work with us through our website, email, and phone, but those channels are still backed by U.S.-based customer service, decades of combined industrial tool experience, and people who pick up the phone.

Industrial-grade pneumatic tools remain at the center of what we do. From abrasives and air fittings to hoists, pumps, safety supplies, and hard-to-find parts, we do more than ship a box. We work to understand the application, find the right product, and deliver it where it needs to go.

We have grown a long way from the spare bedroom in Point Loma, but we have chosen to stay small by design. We remain independent and family-owned, rooted in the manufacturing communities of Southern California and Baja, and we still believe technology works best when it is backed by real people and strong relationships.