Celebrating 30 Years of Innovative Tools: Built by a Tech, Trusted by Shops

Thirty years ago, an auto body technician got tired of painting bumper covers over a trash barrel.

That frustration became the SuperStand. The SuperStand became Innovative Tools & Technologies. And Innovative Tools became one of the most trusted names in collision-shop organization, parts handling, and prep equipment.

Grade A Tools is proud to be a business partner with Innovative Tools. We carry a complete line of their products because shops that use them work cleaner, faster, and with fewer damaged parts. On their 30-year anniversary, we congratulate Innovative Tools on decades of leadership and on tools that actually hold up in a real body shop.

Shop the full Innovative Tools lineup: https://gradeatools.com/innovative-tools/

Visit Innovative Tools: https://www.innovativetools.com

From a Barrel to an Industry Standard

In 1996, founder Bryan Johnson had already spent more than two decades in the booth. Plastic bumper covers were routinely draped over trash barrels for repair, prep, paint, bake, and cure. Coverage was uneven. Texture was unpredictable. Shape distorted. Setup ate time.

Johnson built a better way: the SuperStand, a mobile clamping system that holds bumper covers securely without blocking paint surfaces. Shops reported saving about half an hour of labor per bumper. The stand often paid for itself in a month.

That first product set the pattern Innovative still follows:

• Solve a job that techs actually hate
• Build it heavy enough for daily shop abuse
• Make it mobile so the work moves with the technician
• Back it with a warranty that competitors do not match

Today Innovative Tools is still based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Hundreds of thousands of their carts, stands, racks, and accessories are in use across North America and overseas. Their own site now marks 30 years of quality and innovation in the collision repair industry.

Why Shops Stay With Innovative

Imitations exist. Shops that have used both usually go back to Innovative.

Design that came from the stall, not a catalog meeting. Parts carts nest. Shelves and baskets load from the front. Panel trains pad large panels so metal never hits metal. SuperStand clamps pinch an edge or pin through a hole. Total-lock casters freeze the unit with a toe tap.

Build quality that survives solvents, dollies, and overtime. High-carbon heat-treated steel brackets, powder-coat finishes, and industrial wheels are standard, not upgrades.

A system, not a one-off gadget. A Parts Cart B can take a deep basket, panel train, hardware tray, parts pan, molding holder, and protective mats. Stands, racks, dispensers, spray-gun cabinets, and UV curing tools plug into the same workflow.

Warranty and support. Innovative is known for a lifetime limited warranty on many products and for replacing small parts without a fight. That matters when a cart lives next to a spray booth for a decade.

The result they publish is simple: more than 450,000 products sold worldwide and millions of production hours saved.

What Grade A Tools Stocks From Innovative

Grade A Tools carries the line collision shops actually reorder. Highlights include:

• Parts carts — SSPC-B Series, SSPC-D Series, and fully loaded configurations with baskets, hooks, and trays
• Bumper and panel systems — SuperStand family, mobile bumper storage racks, single-sided bumper racks, X-Tender and X-Stand utility stands
• Door and fender stands — single and double door/fender paint stands
• Organization and protection — Panel Train, rocker molding holders, headliner bags, buffer pad holders, truck cab protectors
• Booth and prep helpers — paper and plastic dispensers, mobile plastic sheeting dispensers, paint prep carts, spray gun cabinets and magnetic gun holders
• Specialty items — weld test station, mobile glass rack, UV curing guns (Scangrip), replacement total-lock wheels

Browse every SKU here: https://gradeatools.com/innovative-tools/

If you run multiple locations, we can match carts and stands across sites so teardown, prep, and paint look the same in every stall.

Partnership That Serves the Shop Floor

Grade A Tools has supplied collision repair equipment since 2001. We manufacture our own products and distribute more than 3,400 SKUs to independent shops, dealerships, MSOs, fleets, restoration shops, and vocational schools.

We partner with Innovative because their tools fit how serious shops actually work:

• Fewer lost bolts and scratched panels
• Less walking between teardown and the booth
• One tech can load a door or hold a bumper without hunting for help
• Equipment that still looks and rolls right after years of solvent and concrete

When a shop calls us for a parts cart, a SuperStand, or a full prep package, they get the genuine Innovative product, not a look-alike with a short warranty.

Congratulating 30 Years of Doing It Right

Grade A Tools congratulates Innovative Tools & Technologies on 30 years of well-made tools and leadership in collision repair equipment.

They started because a technician refused to accept a trash-barrel process. They stayed relevant because they kept listening to the next problem on the floor.

We are pleased to be business partners and to offer a complete line of Innovative products to our customers.

Here’s to the next decade of stands that do not tip, carts that nest, and shops that finish the job with parts still in one piece.

Shop Innovative Tools at Grade A Tools
https://gradeatools.com/innovative-tools/

Innovative Tools official site
https://www.innovativetools.com