Now that we’re in the middle of “Trade Show Season” -
with StonExpo and Coverings taking place within a span of two months - I find
myself continually writing about the various seminar programs for the stone
industry.
A decade ago, I traveled to the famed Giallo Veneziano quarry in Brazil -- via helicopter -- and immediately counted it among the most interesting places I visited while doing this job.
Let’s face it - even in good times, it was tough to
really get a firm handle on the growth (or, unfortunately, the decline) of the U.S. stone
industry.
With fabrication shops working on tighter margins than ever before, many shop managers and owners are eliminating unnecessary cost by increasing efficiency. Recently, I conducted a roundtable on increasing shop efficiency with members of the Stone Fabricators Alliance (SFA), which can be found on page 62 of this issue.
When talking to a long-time fabricator friend of mine recently, I noted that a lot of homeowners out there seem slow to emerge from their "Cocoon of Fear" -- a term which seemed to both amuse and concern him.
As one of the charter members of the Stone Fabricators Alliance (SFA) and a frequent user of the StoneAdvice.com Forum, I have had ample opportunity to see what the end users biggest complaints are. Customers are continually complaining about the seams in their new countertops.
Besides the logical tendency to save as many slabs as possible, there are also other different reasons why the technology evolved for stone enhancement and repair
June 4, 2003
Over the past few years, a number of slab producers have invested in large-scale operations for applying resin to granite slabs. This article explains some of the benefits to this process.