Category: Articles

Technology

Waterjets: Cutting It Real Wet

By K. Schipper

For many stone-fabrication shops, a bridge saw is almost always the first major equipment purchase in a move to grow their business.
However, the old standby is getting some competition these days in the cutting realm: waterjets. The ability to do radius curves – whether for corners or sink cutouts – is making a waterjet an attractive addition to many shops.
Not only is the accuracy impressive, but – depending on the edge – an abrasive waterjet may reduce the amount of time spent on finishing. And, with the right software, it can nest cuts, reducing waste.
Does this mean the bridge saw will eventually go the way of rotary-dial telephones and eight-track players? Probably not, but more shop owners say their next major slab cutter will be doing the job with water rather than diamonds.

The Installer

So You Want MY Job?

By Jason Nottestad

I first thought up the idea for Midwest Template Services after seeing the ETemplate™ photo-templating system in action at the Coverings show in March of 2003. Photo templating was not new, but it didn’t have much of a presence in Madison, Wis., at the time. I imagined a company using the technology to create more-accurate (and more-profitable) countertops.

JobSight

The Willow School, Gladstone, N.J.

By K. Schipper

Client: The Willow School, Gladstone, N.J.
Architect: Farewell Mills Gatsch Architects, Princeton, N.J.
Contractor: Solid Wood Construction, Gladstone, N.J.
Stone Supplier: Wood Natural Restoration, Orefield, Pa.

Conventions / Expos

VITÓRIA Event Sets New Records Again

VITÓRIA, Brazil – The 23rd International Fair of Marble and Granite in early February continued its record-setting pace, breaking the 35,000-attendee mark.
The event, on Feb. 6-9, drew 35,797 visitors, up 14.7 percent from the 31,202 attendees at the 2006 show. The 2,335 non-Brazilian attendees is also a record mark, up 11.8 percent from last year’s 2,087.

Conventions / Expos

Stone+tec 2007: The Dynamic Center

NUREMBERG, Germany – For centuries, this Bavarian city offered a historical touchstone to the past. Today – for the international as well as European natural-stone industry – it’s fast becoming a gateway to the future.
Stone+tec 2007, taking place at the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg on June 6-9, is literally at the center of a growing market – the European Union (EU) – and an important crossroads for the stone trade. With more than 40,000 attendees expected to interact with more than 1,000 exhibitors, it’s going to be a busy marketplace.

Technology

The 2.5-Minute Monument

When the topic is continuous-flow production in the stone industry, it’s about moving more kitchens through a shop – not monuments.
And, putting automation and sandblasting in the same workflow doesn’t even sound possible, let alone efficient.
It’s a challenge taken on by Friedrich Goldmann GmbH & Co. KG of Mannheim, Germany, with a monument production shop. The longtime sandblasting-products manufacturer not only made the process work – it also brought speed into the equation.

Spall

Pocket Protection

By Emerson Schwartzkopf

Let’s get something straight at the start: I like computers. And I like all sorts of computer-related gadgets, although I’ve resisted the temptation to plug a coffee-cup warmer into some spare socket of my office desktop machine.
I’m also a firm believer in the one-step-behind philosophy in the world of electronics: Instead of buying cutting-edge stuff, I pick up devices once they’re no longer the hot item on the market. My digital camera doesn’t record the maximum number of megapixels, and the cell phones I tote don’t have a camera or play music and videos.
It’s not that I’m cautious. I’m cheap. But I still recognize the value in saving something very precious: my time.

Clean Perspective

Speaking the Customer’s Language (March 2007)

By Tom McNall

How many times have you seen the tourist asking a local, “Where is the hotel?” And, when the visitor doesn’t get a response or only a shrug from the local, they try to communicate better……by asking, louder and slower, “WHERE IS THE HOTEL?”
In today’s global economy, we need to be able to communicate better. But this article is not going to deal with Spanish, Italian or Mandarin. Let’s look at a different type of language spoken right here in North America (and all over the world for that matter) that, far too often, seems foreign to many.

The Installer

Grow With The Flow

By Jason Nottestad Creating beautiful kitchen and bath countertops out of stone that has a definite grain, or flow, is both simple and difficult at the same time. Jason NottestadThe simple part is the...