DA
Doug Adams III
President
Third-generation president. Mechanical engineering degree from University of Florida; ten years on the floor before taking the role.
About
Three generations.
One methodology.
Adams was founded in Tampa in 1960 by Doug Adams Sr., a Navy-trained engineer who saw that Florida's growing manufacturing base needed a distributor who'd come into the plant and look at the actual problem. Sixty-five years and three generations later, that's still the work.
What we do, and why
We’re an extension of your engineering team. Most of our customers can’t justify a dedicated fluid-power or automation specialist on payroll — but they need that expertise on call. That’s the role we play.
We’re a distributor in the technical sense — we sell components from manufacturer partners. But the catalog is the start of the conversation, not the end. The reason customers stay with us across decades is that we walk their floor, understand the duty their equipment is being asked to do, and spec what fits the application rather than what’s closest in the catalog.
We’re an integrator in the practical sense — we build custom assemblies, design cells, validate systems, train operators. About a third of our revenue is custom-engineered work. The rest is the distribution and the field-service relationships that build trust over years.
We’re a teacher when the customer needs it — we run a 1,800 sq ft training facility, host a 200-attendee annual conference, and certify engineers to factory standards every month. Manufacturing is hard. People who understand the systems are scarce. We try to grow that population.
And we’re family-run, deliberately. The relationships span generations because the company spans generations. The president who answers your call about a press hydraulic problem is the grandson of the man who would have answered it forty years ago.
Sixty-five years on the same trade
A timeline, not a slogan.
- 1960
Founded
Doug Adams Sr. opens Adams Air & Hydraulics in a 2,400 sq ft warehouse on Causeway Boulevard, distributing pneumatic components for Florida's expanding citrus and phosphate industries.
- 1972
Custom shop established
First custom hydraulic power unit shipped — a 50 hp skid for a Polk County phosphate dryer. The custom-build practice that today makes up 30% of revenue starts here.
- 1985
Mobile branch opens
Doug Adams Jr. opens the Mobile, Alabama branch to serve the Gulf Coast paper and chemical industries. Adams becomes a true regional integrator rather than a Florida-only distributor.
- 1996
Customer Profit Reinforcement®
The methodology takes formal shape: a structured plant-audit framework that ranks opportunities by ease and ROI. Service-marked in 1998.
- 2003
Puerto Rico expansion
San Juan office opens, originally to serve the pharmaceutical manufacturing cluster on the island. Spanish-language application engineering becomes a permanent capability.
- 2009
Automation pillar added
Adams formalizes the industrial automation practice — vision systems, motion control, safety. A response to customers asking for cobot integration earlier than the rest of the southeast was ready for it.
- 2018
Brand evolution
The company unifies its identity from "Adams Air & Hydraulics" to simply "Adams" in primary use, reflecting the equal weight of fluid power and automation in the practice.
- 2022
Third-generation leadership
Doug Adams III named president; Kayla Adams named VP of Engineering. The third generation takes the operating roles their grandfather and father held. The trade is the same; the tools are different.
- 2024
Dominican Republic office
Santo Domingo location opens, expanding Caribbean coverage to support Dominican manufacturing growth. Service trucks and field engineers based in-territory.
Leadership & senior engineering
The names on the door, and the engineers behind it.
Twenty-seven application and field engineers in total across our four offices. Below: the leadership and the senior people you’re most likely to interact with on a project.
KA
Kayla Adams
VP of Engineering
Leads the engineering, custom-assembly, and automation practices. Cornell BSME, eight years at Eaton before joining Adams in 2017.
CM
Carlos Mendoza
Automation Engineering Lead
Built the automation pillar from a one-engineer side practice into a 12-person team. UR-certified across the cobot lineup; Cognex Premier-certified.
SL
Sarah Liu
Vision Systems Engineer
Twelve years building vision-anchored inspection cells. Previously at Cognex's Boston office; brings deep familiarity with the In-Sight platform.
MT
Mike Torres
Senior Application Engineer (Fluid Power)
Twenty-three years specifying MAC, Bimba, and Camozzi components into Florida's hardest-duty applications. Likely on a citrus juicing line right now.
AR
Ana Rodríguez
Field Engineering Manager, San Juan
Leads the Puerto Rico practice. Bilingual technical communication; primary point of contact for the island's pharma and food manufacturing customers.
65
years in the trade
Founded in Tampa, 1960
27
engineers on staff
Across four offices
4,200
stocked SKUs
Tampa branch, same-day pickup
600+
documented audits
Customer Profit Reinforcement® engagements
Visit the shop
The Tampa headquarters is open to customers any business day.
Most projects are scoped on a customer's plant floor, but we love when people come see ours. Custom-build benches, the training facility, the brand-new automation lab — call ahead and we'll set up a tour.
On-site responseSame day in the Tampa Bay area
Average audit2 days on the floor · 10-day report
Engineering staff27 application & field engineers
LanguagesEnglish & Spanish, in-territory