Stephen Pixley, the founder of Southern California companies Machine Tool Supply and AutoCrib and a pioneer in industrial vending technology, announced his retirement Thursday.
Pixley developed one of the first industrial vending solutions in his garage in a bid to combat inefficiencies in inventory management at Machine Tool Supply. He would turn that system into AutoCrib, which would go on to manufacture and install more than 20,000 machines across the globe. AutoCrib was acquired by tool and equipment company Snap-on in 2020.
Other highlights in his career include an automated reordering system in the early days of the internet, the first demand compression algorithms in vending machines in the early 2000s, and installing vending machines on a contract basis.
“When I launched Machine Tool Supply, I saw first-hand how inefficient tool control and inventory management was in manufacturing,” Pixley said in a statement. “I knew there had to be a better way. That led me to develop the first industrial vending machine in my garage — never imagining that one day, these systems would become an industry standard worldwide.”
