In August 2015, President/CEO, Coy Beaman formed Advanced Rail Systems, LLC (ARS), a USA company. ARS is a family owned, rural company that manufactures railway switches. The railway switches are a product that is perhaps, the most advanced on the market today and arguably far superior to all other railway switches.
Mr. Beaman came to the McLennan SBDC in 2019 to discuss SBA financing of a new facility. The SBDC met with key management, discussed operations and options for the construction and permanent financing of a new facility. The current operations were in a rural market, in a hay barn located in a pasture close to Kosse, Texas.
SBDC advisors helped with log term planning, introductions to local bankers and connecting resources in IPO’s. The company had started exporting to railroad companies located in Canada, Brazil, Mexico, South America, and the Netherlands.
Advanced Rail Systems had to overcome significant tragedy in 2021. Coy Beaman, CEO and Co-founder died in a car accident on the icy roads of February 11, 2021, during an unprecedented snowstorm affecting the entire state of Texas. The loss of President/CEO, Coy Beaman took place just as the company started expanding their operations through the construction on a 30,000 square foot building.
The expansion was financed with a $4,9M SBA 7A loan with Byline Bank in Dallas, Texas. The $4.9M was for the purpose of constructing the 30,000 square foot building ($3.2M), paying off $1.6M in private lending, and covering $100,000 in closing costs.
Volunteerism and community involvement is important to ARS. Current CEO Sam Lindsay, Co-founder Coy Beaman and his wife Mona Beaman have been heavily involved with the Lion’s Club for many years, serving in leadership roles.
Advanced Rail Systems held their grand opening of the new production facility with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Congressman Pete Sessions in attendance. Mr. Beaman’s contributions to the railroad industry and his volunteerism were showcased and celebrated and Mona Beaman accepted a proclamation from Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
Despite the pandemic, ARS had had substantial sales increases from $3,000,000 to $10,000,000 and 20 employees.
The current ownership and management are led by Sam Lindsey and Dilsen Rodrigues. For the past 20 years, Sam Lindsey has been heavily involved in all aspects of administration and finance, including planning and resolution. Dilsen Rodrigues, Co-founder and VP of Engineering and international sales has extensive experience with developing robotics, which has been instrumental in his design of industry-leading switch machine technology. Dilsen also manages international sales and has successfully developed customer relations in many countries as he fluently speaks four languages and knows the international rail market extensively.