Upholding a stone tradition in Peru
The Rossello family's roots in the stone industry can be traced back to 1870, with the opening of its first marble shop in Lima, Peru. And as a reminder of its beginnings, the family decided to name the business that they operate today, Marmoleria Gallos S.A. after the street in Lima where their ancestors had first opened shop.
For more than 130 years, the Rossello family has been honing their skills and steadily increasing the size of their business. In 1984, Marmoleria Gallos began exporting natural stone from Peru, and it is currently in the process of building a new showroom in the upscale area of Miraflores in Lima. Additionally, the company owns 38 quarries - most of which are located in the central regions of the Andes Mountains.
The quarries sit 13,000 feet above sea level, and have proven long-term reserves, according to the Rossello family. Materials produced include travertine, limestone and marble as well as granite in shades of black, gray, red and brownish green. Also, Marmoleria Gallos intends to introduce stone from two new quarries this year.
Fabricating operations
Located near the southern border of Lima - just a few miles from the port of Callao - is the company's plant, which sprawls over a massive area. Equipped with the most state-of-the-art technology, Marmoleria Gallos is able to achieve high productivity rates and can fabricate stone products in a diverse range of sizes and finishes.Among the machinery in the factory are those manufactured by Levi Tunisi, Pedrini, BM and Zonato. The company also has equipment to produce the Tempora[R] surface finish, which helped it develop an innovative proprietary process. The Tempora finish gives stone an antique-rustic appearance.
According to the Rossello family, Marmoleria Gallos outputs over 500,000 square feet of marble, limestone and travertine products per month. Because they believe in quality control and assurance, all tile products are machine calibrated and beveled to assure perfect fits. Trained and experienced workers select, categorize and sort stone pieces to ensure that only the best quality tiles are shipped.
Three-quarters of Marmoleria Gallos' production is tile, while 15% is slabs and 10% consists of cut-to-size pieces and architectural projects. The company primarily fabricates tiles in 12 x 12 x 3/8, 18 x 18 x 3/8 and 24 x 24 x 3/8 inches. But tile sizes are not limited to those, as the company has supplied special orders of tiles as large as 24 x 70 inches. Pool copings, sinks, windows sills, thresholds, vanities, backsplashes and fireplace surrounds are also specialties for Marmoleria Gallos.
Large markets for the company are the western and southwestern states in the U.S. However, Marmoleria Gallos has seen a steady growth in sales in Florida and the southeastern states in the past eight months. Additionally, the company does significant amounts of business in South American countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Honduras and Venezuela. After much effort, the company's products have been successfully introduced in the United Kingdom, France and Israel. Marmoleria Gallos has also been selling to Korean customers for the past two years.
Future plans for the company include building a new additional plant in 2003.
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