Page 4 - APRIL-2019_SlipperyRockGazette

4|April 2019
Letter to the editor
Slippery rock GAzette
In This Issue
DEPARTMENTS: Industry Spotlight
Premier Surfaces-Northeast Rocks the Empire State, by Peter Marcucci ...................................... Begins on 1 Consolidation in the Stone Industry ......................................................................................................... Begins on 12 The 2018 Pinnacle Awards, Continued ..................................................................................................... Begins on 13 Polycor’s Living Monuments Project, by Steven Schrenk .......................................................................................... 32
Training and Education Sponsored by Braxton-Bragg
Throughput Accounting, by Ed Hill .................................................................................................................... Begins on 5 Don’t Use Sink Clips on Solid Surface Tops.......................................................................................................................... 12
Industry Topics, Tips and Regulars
Letter to the Editor ........................................................................................................................................................................ 4 Don’t Fall for Fake Blackmail Scams, by Sharon Koehler ................................................................................................. 11 The Stone Detective, by Frederick M. Hueston ........................................................................................... Begins on 28 Stone Restoration and Maintenance Corner, by Bob Murrell ........................................................................................ 14 Ready, Set, Clamp! by Codiak San Herrell ........................................................................................................................... 16 Say in Reverse, by Sam Venable ............................................................................................................................................... 17 Park Industries TISE Recap ....................................................................................................................................................... 18 Who’s Next? by Sharon Koehler ............................................................................................................................................. 24
Stone and Tile Industry News
Women in Stone Pioneer Award ............................................................................................................................................... 5
2019 “Stone of the Year” Announced .................................................................................................................................... 10
Artisan Group Partners with Home Trust International as the Exclusive National
Fabrication Group ................................................................................................................................................ Begins on 8
Stone Forensics Announces June 2019 Stone and Tile Troubleshooting Class ......................................................... 15 Tony Malisani Receives 2018 Person of the Year Award .................................................................................................. 20 Ronnie Benton Joins Diamut America’s Stone Division as Southeast Area Product Manager.............................. 22 Select Interior Concepts Acquires Summit Stoneworks in Buda, Texas .............................................. Begins on 24 Braxton-Bragg Expands Outside Sales Presence in West Coast, Pacific Northwest
and Central U.S. .................................................................................................................................................... Begins on 25 Joey Marcella Receives 2018 Craftsman of the Year Award ........................................................................................... 34 Omni Cubed Launches Two New Products: Pro Stealth Seamer Manual and Auto ............................................... 35 Circa Lighting Opens New West Hollywood Showroom ......................................................................... Begins on 35 Indiana Limestone Receives ANSI/NSC 373 Certification for Quarry Operations .......................... Begins on 35
Classifieds and Marketplace ................................................................................. 30, 31
To the Editor Slippery Rock Gazette Knoxville, TN
When I first came to this country in the mid-sixties, our natural stone industry consisted of major building construction such as Cold Spring, North Carolina Granite, the monument industry in Barre, Vermont; Elberton, Georgia; Millbank, South Dakota; the slate, bluestone, lime- stone industries; and some landscaping/ masonry, for total combined sales of perhaps $5 Billion. Now with the advent of granite/quartz kitchen countertops, industry-wide sales are closer to $20 Billion, or four times as much!
The countertop industry really started around 1990, whilst the other industry sectors go back perhaps to 1875, thus this sector is by far the youngest. At the be- ginning, most of the tops were produced by mom-and-pop businesses employing perhaps 5/6 people, more properly de- scribed as artisanal in nature. So the job was done with relatively simple tools and few, if any, companies could pro- duce an ogee or rounded edge profile. Then came the first StonExpo in 1987 and the industry really developed, add- ing water-fed grinders, diamond sandpa- per, Alpha resin pads, Ghines routers and track saws, as some examples. However, in time the machinery manufacturers started producing ever more sophisti- cated equipment such as CNC tooling, water jets, automatic edge polishers and the like; BUT, this equipment was very much more expensive than the manual machines of the past, and thus the fab- ricators had to become better organized and more sophisticated business man- agers capable of borrowing $250 thou- sand or more from banks to pay for the machines. Suddenly, the industry went through a metamorphosis with engineers, MBAs and college-trained marketing people at the helm, and the industry re- ally took off!
Fast forward ten years, and indus- try-wide consolidation is taking place not only in the kitchen countertop sector but also in major stone companies such as Rock of Ages, Swenson, Georgia Marble, now all under the umbrella of Polycor. However, in the countertop sector as the youngest player, consolidation is the most pronounced with industry-wide groups such as RockHeads, Artisan, SFA and others forming associations and al- liances with a view to combining. This is a totally natural phenomenon as the countertop industry sells approx. $12.5 Billion annually: put another way, 1,000 fabricators with sales of $12.5 Million each would theoretically cover the entire market, so what is more natural than a consolidation process?
In the next ten years, who knows, but machinery and tools are becoming ever more sophisticated and productive, so labor input will drop, helping the consol- idation process along.
There is one exception to the consolida- tion process in our industry which relates to its oldest sector, i.e. the monument in- dustry. Although the death rate remains fairly constant at 9 deaths per thousand population, cremation has taken its toll, therefore there are actually fewer mon- uments installed now than years ago and dimensionally somewhat smaller, there- fore by extension fewer monumental manufacturers than in the past.
Now, consolidation is not just happen- ing with the fabricators but also with the suppliers to the industry: there is consol- idation in the tooling supply business and machinery producers. In Germany, six stone machinery factories have become one, so this consolidation is happening internationally as well as domestically, and I don’t see this changing in the fore- seeable future.
Cheerio!
Peter de Kok Atlanta, Georgia
SLIPPERY ROCK GAZETTE®
The Beacon of the Stone Industry
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Rick Stimac ................................................................................................................. Publisher Larry M. Hood ............................................................................ Editor and Design Director G. William Brown....................................................................................... Graphic Designer Codiak San Herrell ...................................................................... Stone Industry Consultant Ed Hill ................................................................................................. Synchronous Solutions Frederick M. Hueston ............................................................... Stone Forensics Consultant Sharon Koehler...................................................................................... Artistic Stone Design Rufus B. Leakin ................................................................................ Guru of Urban Folklore Peter J. Marcucci....................................................................................... Special Contributor Bob Murrell ....................................................................................... Restoration Consultant Steven Schrenk................................................................................................................ Polycor Sam Venable.............................................................................................Department of Irony
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