FAIRMONT – Wayne Kahler, founder of Kahler Automation in Fairmont, announced Monday that he is stepping down as chief executive officer and chief financial officer of the company.

Kahler is turning the CEO title and responsibilities over to his son, Logan, with daughter Chantill Kahler Royer of North Mankato assuming the duties of CFO.

“I’m healthy,” Wayne Kahler said, squelching any rumors that illness prompted the decision. “It’s just time for Logan and Chantill to take over the reins. I’ll continue as chairman of the board.”

The four-member board of directors consists of Wayne, his wife Char and their two children.

Kahler Automation is a 25-year-old company that plans, designs, fabricates and implements automated industrial control systems for fertilizer and chemical-dispensing products and grain dryer controls.

“We started at the beginning of 1980 as a department of Kahler Electric,” Wayne Kahler said. “In 1980, we had started doing automation work, and then in 1989, we spun it off into a separate company.”

He and his brother, Doug, were partners in both businesses until a few years ago.

“Then we separated ownership so my children could take over this business, and his children could take over his business,” he said.

After starting out with a handful of employees, Wayne Kahler developed and expanded the business that now houses more than 70 employees in a 36,000-square-foot facility in Fairmont’s Industrial Park. From 2007-10, Kahler Automation was named one of the country’s fastest-growing companies by INC 5000.

The company’s success and growth reflects directly on “a group of really dedicated people that work here,” Wayne Kahler said. “A lot of them – about 40 – are Fairmont or Martin County school graduates. We’ve been able to fill a lot of our positions with people from the area. We’re always interested in talking to people who might want to move back to Fairmont.”

Logan Kahler has been employed at the company for 12 years, after earning a degree in computer engineering from Iowa State University in 2002, and he feels confident in assuming his new leadership role.

“If you’d asked me a couple of years ago, I might have said no at that point in time, but I definitely feel like I have the experience and the knowledge of all the things we do,” he said. “If I ever have questions, I know where to reach him (Wayne).”

“Logan has been involved in our product development. He’s had a lot of input over the years,” Wayne Kahler said.

“I’ve always been exposed to it. I grew up with it,” Logan Kahler said. “I remember spending Saturdays at the shop with my dad. Occasionally he let me disassemble things. I liked taking stuff apart.”

He admits he was undecided about a career path during his first two years of college. Then he worked at Kahler Automation for a summer, and his future became clear.

“This was something I wanted to be a part of,” he said, and his computer engineering degree “fits like a glove for what we do here.”

Chantill Kahler Royer is a civil engineer working out of the Mankato office of Bolton & Menk. Her new CFO duties will be an additional part-time job for her.

The elder Kahler, who turned 70 in December, had been considering retirement for a while.

“We actually had Wes Pruett from HR Advisors sit down and coach us on the transition. That was almost two yeas ago,” he said.

His wife, Char, relinquished her role as head of the Kinship mentoring program in January so the couple could spend more time together.

“Then I became the problem,” Wayne Kahler said. “I don’t know if I’m ready to retire, but it’s time for Logan to take the reins.

“I’m sure there’s going to be moments I wish I was still in charge, sort of like the quarterback in a football game, but I’m going to step back and be the coach on the sidelines.”

After the official transfer of leadership on June 22, the new retiree plans to hop in his Kitfox airplane and fly off to do “fun stuff,” he said. A pilot since he was 16, Wayne Kahler’s love of flying will take him and his wife to “all kinds of places in the United States, places I didn’t get a chance to stop and visit because I was so busy with other projects.”

Wayne Kahler won’t abandon the business. He plans to come back “off and on.”

“It’s going to be interesting,” he said. “As an entrepreneur, I doubt if you ever really let go and walk away.”