With more than 75 years of experience in the stone industry, Luck Stone Corp. has learned what it takes to succeed. But prosperity did not come solely through the company's own ventures. To further understand the needs of its market and expand its business, Luck Stone turned to its customers for advice. And after extensive research, the company devised a new system that it believes meets the demands of its customers and offers the service that they desire.

"In 1998, we were seeing record economic times," said Charles S. Luck IV, president and CEO of Luck Stone. "Business was really busy, and usually when things are going really well in a company, it's easy to not think about more than what are the orders you have to get out. We decided that we had to think about where we wanted Luck Stone to go in the next five years. We saw a lot of change with the Internet and 'dot coms' coming up. The foundation of our architectural stone business is built around stone centers. We asked ourselves, 'How can we differentiate ourselves from our competitors that will provide long-term competitive advantages?' That was really the question.