ATI Airframe Tools

ATI was formed in 1938 in Los Angeles, California and incorporated as Aircraft Tools, Inc., in 1949.

Strategically located near LA International Airport, we were able to serve Douglas, Northrop, Lockheed and North American Aviation.

In the mid-1950s, we opened several U.S. sales offices in order to support other companies like Boeing, Grumman, Beech, Cessna, General Dynamics, LTV, Sikorsky, Rohr and Bell Helicopter.

As business changed in the late 1950s, we began soliciting machine shop work and formed a tool and an aerospace division that allowed us to grow substantially.

In 1966, ATI relocated to Escondido, CA, just north of San Diego. It had established itself as the largest supplier of quality aircraft fabricating tools in the United States and Canada.

In 1972, the employees of ATI purchased the company and changed the name to ATI Industries. We began concentrating on international markets, setting up sales distribution into 35 countries.

In March of 1986, ATI brand was sold to, and became a subsidiary of, Snap-on Tools Incorporated.

When defence budgets were drastically reduced in the early 1990s, ATI terminated all aerospace missile component work to concentrate solely on the core commercial tools business. In keeping with this focus, we changed our company name to ATI Tools, Inc. and kept that name until January 1, 1996, when we became ATI Tools Division, Snap-on Tools Company.

In early 2009, ATI consolidated with CDI Torque, another Snap-on Tools company, and formed Snap-on Specialty Tools, which resides today in City of Industry, California.

Snap-on Specialty Tools has a full service design and engineering staff and the capabilities to build custom tools for specific applications.