Construction of the Nautilus Insurance Co. headquarters in Scottsdale, AZ, was completed this past May. The three-story 75,000-square-foot building is clad in Indian granite quarried by Tab India and supplied through the company's U.S. branch, Amsum & Ash of Minneapolis, MN, to present a feeling of strength and permanence.
Occupying 25 floors, and comprised of 1 million square feet of space, the Manhattan Municipal Building at One Center Street in New York City is considered one of the largest government buildings in the world. It was originally built in the early 1900s by the internationally renowned architectural firm, McKim, Mead and White, and this past year, Loring Consulting Engineers was brought on board to renovate and modernize the restrooms, which included the addition of Indian stone supplied by Hindustan Granites Inc. of Hauppauge, NY.
Salvadeo Associates Architects, P.C., recently designed a private residence in Staten Island, NY, to recall a Mediterranean villa. The look for the 7,000-square-foot house was achieved with the extensive use of Indian stone materials from Ankur International.
If you walk around any of the numerous stone trade shows, you will see at least a dozen companies selling CNC machines. It seems everyone nowadays is getting a CNC. I have seen many fabricators have great success with these machines, and I have seen others who have not seen this success. It is critical to understand what a CNC can do for your business - and more importantly, what it cannot do.
When you're evaluating software to organize your office and shop, you'll be confronted with many choices of companies and products. Many software packages will appear to have the same functionality. However, each application works very differently, and will have different strengths. To evaluate which is the appropriate solution for your business, the following points should be considered:
Having been a supplier of cultured marble since 1993, Southern Marble & Design of Orlando, FL, made the move into stone fabrication in 2004, opening a branch called Designer Surfaces, Inc. And to ensure a high level of quality and efficiency, the company has invested in the latest generation of stoneworking machinery, including CNC technology.
Since Adam Anderson and Israel Cruz started BuildersPlus Counter-tops six years ago, the company has experienced a surge of growth. What began as a two-man operation in Houston, TX, has expanded to a business currently comprised of over 40 employees, with steady work from many area builders.
When Marty Marra decided to open Capitol Granite Co., Inc. in Pittsburgh, PA, as a supplier and installer of granite countertops, his investments were not the typical roster of a bridge saw, edging machine and hand tools. Instead, he invested in electronic templating technology to digitally measure jobs for area contractors and kitchen and bath dealers.
As the stone industry continues to grow and advance, a broad range of innovations have been launched for stone fabricators - in the shop as well as in the field. In the templating sector, new digital systems have been introduced for optimum efficiency and accuracy, and they are being used by fabricators of all sizes. The following is a look at some of the digital templating systems on the market today.
The Mormon Temple in Belmont, MA, sits on the second-highest peak of the Boston Metropolitan area, evoking the image of ancient castles. But this majestic structure, unlike a fortified castle, is not positioned to keep people out. Rather, the Belmont Mormon Temple was designed to invite the religious faithfuls in. Contributing to this welcoming effect is the structure's surrounding landscape, which features Caledonia granite - quarried by Polycor, Inc. of Quebec, Canada, at its own Canadian quarries.