Another MIA/Stone World Stone Summit was recently held in Dulles, VA, just outside of Washington, DC. Hosted by MS International (MSI) at its showroom and warehouse facility, the daylong event featured a facility tour, a lesson on “How to Set a Cost and Sell a Project’s Value,” which was presented by Tony Malisani of Malisani, Inc. in Great Falls, MT, and current president of the Marble Institute of America (MIA), and a Fabricator Forum. The event attracted 36 fabricators from 24 companies, and overall included 56 participants. Sponsors included: Blanco, Etemplate Systems, GranQuartz, Integra Adhesives, Laser Products Industries, Northwood Machine Manufacturing Co., Park Industries, Prodim, Moraware, Stone Fabricator’s Alliance (SFA) and Stone Boss Industries.
Malisani’s presentation went into detail about pricing strategies, marketing techniques and different selling methods as well as how fabricators can better understand and measure their overall business. The presentation concluded with a look at the 2013 MIA Fabricator Benchmarking Report (which was featured in the July issue of Stone World).