Cathedral Marble and Granite: Putting safety first
Running a safe and employee-friendly workplace
Starting in the mid-90s, Dave Duffy, owner of Cathedral Marble and Granite in Whitestown, IN, started his own stone business in a one-car garage with four other people. Included in that group was Chris Baker and Mike Massari, both of which continue to work with Duffy today. “I have worked for guys who don’t care about your health,” said Duffy. “I have had to do jobs that were hard on your body or your lungs; that’s something that I never want my workers to experience. I have been in their position for years, so when they come to me with different problems, I understand those problems and want to make a better working environment for them.”
Because of the nurturing workplace Duffy has created, there has been minimal turnover in his company. “I see all the new technology coming out and I like to embrace it,” he said. “I know some fabricators don’t. More innovations doesn’t mean you have to get rid of people. You find other jobs for them. You still need bodies to move slabs around or to direct the machine on what to do. By investing in CNC machines you are saving the wear and tear on the human body, and it helps make a happier employee.”
On average, Cathedral Marble and Granite currently fabricates 800 to 1,000 square feet of material a week. It has two CNC saws from GMM, a Northwood CNC router, a straight line polisher from Marmo Meccanica, Slabsmith software, Moraware and two Proliner digital templating systems from Prodim. “Our GMM saw is really the heart and soul of our shop,” said Duffy. “It is our fourth saw from them and it’s always up and running. It’s a great company to work with. Our CNC is great with radius work, but also, that saw will cut a radius with its blade. It’s a great piece of equipment. I remember a few years ago when the machines were slow, or the tables didn’t raise up, with the improvements they have made in recent years, they really are a great investment.”
The company also has a water filtration system from AquaPro.” Besides caring for our employees, we also try to care for the environment,” said Duffy. “That’s why we invested in a water filtration system. We got the wet cut machines because they are more efficient, but also it’s better for our guys. The water filtration system helps us recycle water so we are not wasting nearly as much.”
At this time, Cathedral Marble and Granite has approximately 30 employees — six to eight of them installers, doing 70% high-end custom residential and 30% commercial work. The facility is roughly 15,000 square feet, and plans are in the works to expand it to 20,000 square feet. “When we deal with remnants, we try to purge them every two years since they just take up too much space,” said Duffy. “We as a company also like to donate to charities, such as Habitat for Humanities. We believe that’s important to do as a company. Moving forward, I also want to invest in a waterjet possibly. I like to do as much research as possible before buying a machine, and don’t want to rush into it, but I think it’s something that would help our business out.”
Moving forward, the company wants to continue to stay innovative and continue to expand their building. “In the future, we also want to keep doing things to keep good employees,” said Duffy. “We hope to stay ahead of the trends. We are doing a lot of miters right now. We like to think we have gotten really good at doing them. We want to seriously look into the waterjet machine and want to look into any other pieces of equipment that will continue to help our employees do the best job possible, but also put out a great product.”
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Cathedral Marble and Granite Whitestown, INType of Work: Residential, Commercial |
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