Practically since childhood, Bruce MacLachlan has had a history in the kitchen-building business. Today, his company - Top Line Co., of Pennsauken, NJ - includes a busy solid surface shop as well as a state-of-the-art stoneworking facility in Pennsauken, NJ.
Given Brazil’s position of prominence in the
international stone industry - they are by far the top exporter of granite to
the U.S. - it is not surprising that the Vitória Stone Fair has shown solid
growth since moving to Vitória, Brazil in 2002.
Marmocil was founded in 1968 in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil, and it is specialized in the production of granite polished slabs for internal and external applications. Although the company’s initial focus was on the domestic market, it expanded to the international market in 2001, with the installation of a modern industrial complex located in Cariacica, Vitória, Espírito Santo.
Over the past few years, the stone industry in the U.S. has been growing at an unprecedented rate. And while the majority of fabricators polled in this year’s Stone World survey predict that growth will continue, their optimism has not been as overwhelming as in recent years.
Coming off of an exceptionally successful 2005
show, the industry once again committed to StonExpo in 2006 this past November.
The result was a sold-out exhibit floor and record attendance at the Las Vegas
Convention Center.
When Michael Morey established Champlain Stone, Ltd. in Upstate New York in January of 1982, the company was essentially a one-man operation, as Morey would extract stone by hand and haul it to the marketplace for sale. Today, the company employs over 175 people and supplies six distinct varieties of stone to markets throughout the U.S. and abroad.
Nestled among the pine-covered hills of Saint-Sébastien in Québec, Canada, A. Lacroix et Fils Granit Ltée processes stone with advanced stoneworking machinery that is being updated on a continual basis. Operating with a dedicated staff of experienced workers, the family-run company has invested in the latest generation of technology for slab production as well as custom architectural stonework.
Working in the granite-rich Brazilian state of Espírito Santo, Granitos Itapoama Ltda. of Rio Novo Do Sul was founded in February of 1990, and its principal owners are Elimario Peterle Fiorio and Estevan Antonio Fiorio, Jr. And over the past 16 years, the company has become a specialist in slab production.
Despite the bustling level of activity at Front
Range Stone’s fabrication plant in Englewood, CO, there is clearly an order to
the stoneworking process. Workers, machinery and material seem to move in
perfect unison, allowing the company to work at a high level of efficiency.
As the stone industry continues to grow, the lineup of machinery available to fabricators has been continually advancing. From more efficient sawing and polishing lines to computer numerically controlled (CNC) stoneworking machines, these new offerings are giving fabricators an edge in a marketplace where competition is ever-increasing.