About AST Manufacturing · Grand Prairie, Texas
AST Manufacturing started with one waterjet table.
AST Manufacturing opened in 1993 cutting parts on a single waterjet table in Grand Prairie. The ISO 9001 certified metal fabricator that grew out of it now runs seven processes in one building and carries jobs from concept design through finished assembly for customers across Dallas–Fort Worth.
On the floor
200+ years
of combined metal fabrication experience across the team. A significant portion of the shop has been here more than a decade.
Founded
1993, as AST Waterjet
Led by
Tony Woodall since 2006
Facility
Grand Prairie, TX (Dallas–Fort Worth)
Approvals
ISO 9001:2015 · FM · UL
How it started
A table, ten faxes, and a business
The Paxton Brothers started AST because they could not find anyone who would cut parts to the standard they wanted. So they bought a waterjet table, sent ten faxes looking for work, and the shop opened in 1993 as AST Waterjet.
Customers kept asking for the next operation. Cut it, then form it. Form it, then machine it. Each answer meant another machine on the floor, until cutting was one step among many rather than the whole company. The name changed to AST Manufacturing to match what the shop had actually become: a full metal fabrication company, not a cutting service.
The original reason still holds. Every capability on the floor is there because a customer needed it done right and needed it done here, rather than shipped across town to a second vendor.
Three marks on the timeline
AST Waterjet becomes AST Manufacturing
1993
The doors open
The Paxton Brothers open AST Waterjet in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, pioneering waterjet cutting locally at a time when few shops offered it.
2006
Tony Woodall takes the lead
Two decades of continuous equipment investment follow — laser, CNC machining, router, press brake, and assembly turn a cutting shop into a full metal fabrication company.
TODAY
AST Manufacturing, a full-service shop
Concept design through production, finishing, and assembly — a single prototype or a full release, quoted and run out of Grand Prairie for Dallas–Fort Worth and beyond.
The team
The people who run the machines have run them a while
Tony Woodall has led AST Manufacturing since 2006. The team behind him carries more than 200 years of combined experience across laser cutting, CNC router cutting, CNC machining, press braking, and assembly — and a significant share of them have been part of the AST family for over a decade.
That tenure is the reason a difficult print gets a straight answer on the phone instead of a callback. The person who picks up has usually already run something like it.
Who we build for
Manufacturing and fabricating companies, aerospace, oil field, sign making, architectural structures, floor coverings, and component suppliers — a client base wide enough that the equipment has to be flexible. See the work.
Concept design
Production
Finishing
Assembly
Quality
An ISO 9001 certified metal fabricator, not a self-declared one
AST’s quality manual is certified by an outside registrar against the ISO 9001:2015 standard. The ISO certificate is available with your quote or on request for your vendor file.
Registrar
ISO 9001:2015 by NQA
A registered quality management system, audited by NQA rather than claimed in-house.
Approval
FM Approved
Recognized by FM for work where the specifying engineer requires it.
Listing
UL Listed
Listed with UL for applications that carry that requirement downstream.
Certified scope
The registered quality management system covers military, aerospace, architectural, medical, automotive sheet metal and bracketry, commercial, and oil and gas work.
It also covers structural material machining and fabrication, and precision shape cutting by laser and router, plus metal forming and assembly — the full scope you would expect from an ISO 9001 certified metal fabricator.
Send AST Manufacturing your next print
AST is devoted to meeting and exceeding customer expectations, and would welcome the chance to become your trusted manufacturing partner in Dallas–Fort Worth.
Busy shop, growing team — see open positions
1000 Avenue N, Grand Prairie TX 75050 · (972) 554-0383 · ast@astmfg.com