New ownership takes helm of Queen City manufacturer

After nearly 20 years of employment in the banking industry, Kristy Chastain embarked on a professional shift last year. She and her husband now own a 28-year-old manufacturing business.

Kristy and Brian Chastain officially closed Sept. 2 on the deal to buy Advanced Metal Fabricators Inc. from Jason O’Neal, the original owner of the company, which opened in 1998. She declined to disclose the purchase price or terms of the couple’s lease for the company’s 15,000-square-foot building at 1050 E. Lynn St. that O’Neal continues to own.

“I love manufacturing. That was my favorite type of lending when I did commercial loans,” Kristy Chastain said, noting her banking career included work at Commerce Bank, Metropolitan National Bank, Guaranty Bank and The Bank of Missouri. “I think most bankers secretly are curious about owning a business, and I certainly was. I don’t know that I necessarily voiced it. But in the last two or three years, my husband and I got really serious about doing it.”

While the couple came on board with the company in April, Chastain said O’Neal couldn’t close on the transaction for several months due to tax reasons. At Advanced Metal Fabricators, Chastain is chief financial officer, while her husband is president.

“It’s been a good process. It’s been fun,” Chastain said of becoming owners of the company that specializes in fabrication of sheet metal for residential and commercial customers. “Several of my friends have asked me if this was the right decision. I’m like, ‘Absolutely.’ I loved banking. I learned a lot from it and enjoyed it. But this is totally different, and I love it.

“I absolutely love having the ability to affect your job, your company, and it is such a great responsibility,” she added.

Chastain said metal products manufactured at the Queen City company include fascia, guttering, roofing panels and soffit. Most of its clients are within a 500-mile radius of Springfield.

“Anything that’s metal on the outside of a building, we can build,” she said, adding Advanced Metal Fabricators also makes specialty products for inside homes such as railing and custom chimney caps.

With much of her banking career focused on commercial lending, Chastain said she was familiar with helping companies such as manufacturers with loans. While she didn’t have manufacturing in her employment background, Brian had eight years of experience as a project manager at Central States Industrial Equipment & Service Inc.

The couple recently hired their first new employee since becoming owners, she said, which increased the small staff to eight. Most of the employees’ experience at Advanced Metal Fabricators ranges between five and 18 years, she said.

Noting the longevity and skill level of its staff has been very helpful for the new owners, Chastain said they still have “lots to learn.”

“There’s also process improvements we’re working on to help both of us and all of our employees work through everything in a much more efficient and effective manner,” she said. “It’s like eating an elephant. You eat it one bite at a time.”

The couple recently refreshed the company offices and are evaluating equipment for future investments, she said.

“We’ve also got some software upgrades we need to look at,” she said. “We can improve upon what’s here and make life easier not only for employees but provide better time frames for our clients to receive product.”