This year, the Stone Fabricators Alliance (SFA) hosted its annual trip to Italy, which invites 18 members to explore various regions of the country to learn more about all aspects of the stone industry
In 2011, the Stone Fabricators Alliance (SFA) began taking a delegation of its members to various regions of Italy to learn more about all aspects of stone production. The annual trip, which welcomed 18 fabricators from all over the U.S. and Canada (and myself) this year, took place from May 3 to 11.
The first Stone Fabricators Alliance workshop of the year, hosted by James Donaire of Perfection Connection Marble & Granite, Inc., attracted the largest crowd in the history of the organization’s workshops. Around 200 people attended the event, which was held from June 20 to 21.
If you’ve been in this industry for any length of time, chances are you’ve been to more than a few trade shows and seminars. Looking back at all that invested time, what do you really remember? How much of that information have you used to improve your business?
Today fabricators are being asked to fabricate a large variety of materials. These projects range from kitchen countertops, fireplaces and other residential use, to commercial flooring and wall cladding. These materials have a wide range of characteristics, challenging fabricators in production and material handling.
This year, Stone World celebrates its 35th anniversary. And while the magazine itself has evolved through the decades, the stone industry at large has also experienced change and growth, as well as some hardships over time.
As an online forum, the SFA provides day-to-day information crucial to the nuts and bolts of the fabrication business, on demand and nearly in real time. When this power’s leveraged, you find a variety of answers to almost any concern you may have, often by others who have already encountered the same issue and can offer a solution, or at least some candid insight.
The Stone Fabricators Alliance (SFA) is over 10 years old. It started with a few fabricators meeting at a trade show in Atlanta and they started sharing information and knowledge. Over the years, the SFA has grown into the largest fabricator organization in the world, with members from across the globe.
A large turnout of stone industry professionals came together for education and networking opportunities at the Stone Fabricators Alliance’s most recent workshop – sponsored by Slabworks of Montana in Bozeman, MT
September 13, 2018
A total of 130 registered attendees and 18 vendors gathered at Slabworks of Montana’s facility in Bozeman, MT, on August 9 and 10, 2018 to take part in one of several workshops held by the Stone Fabricators Alliance (SFA) throughout the U.S. each year.
Fabricators head to Italy with the SFA to learn not only more about the products they buy and the machines they invest in, but also the culture of Italian workers
For the past eight years, the Stone Fabricator’s Alliance (SFA) takes a group of fabricators from North America, many of which have never traveled once outside the country, and brings them to Italy to learn about machinery, tooling and different types of stone.