Earlier this year, a trade delegation of almost 30 members of the Stone Fabricators Alliance (SFA) took an intensive trip through Italy, where they studied all aspects of the stone industry. Stretching from Rome to Bologna to Verona to Milan — and, seemingly, all points in between — the caravan visited the full gamut of stone producers and technology suppliers.
On the technology side, SFA members saw the latest developments in large-scale machinery, table saws, CNC routers, CNC bridge saws, portable routers, grinders, tooling, adhesives, sealers and more. In the stone-production sector, the delegation saw all levels of stoneworking, including quarrying, block-cutting, slab processing, architectural stoneworking and hand craftsmanship. The tour also visited some localized fabrication plants that used machinery common to North American stone fabricators, such as bridge saws, CNC stoneworking centers and waterjets. Throughout the tour, the SFA members offered input on the various types of technology and how they could utilize it in their operations. At all of the technology supplier visits, the fabricators offered candid insight on how these products could be even more effective for the North American fabrication market. Stone World was fortunate enough to join the SFA delegation, and the pages that follow offer a look at what the fabricators saw during their journey through Italy.