It’s hard to believe another year is almost in the books. For us at Contemporary Stone & Tile Design, 2019 has been a great year meeting and learning about different architects and designers and seeing the projects they have produced.

My favorite thing to say about us is: ‘We are not the best stone company in Chicago because we are the oldest. We are the oldest, because we are the best,’” said Tom Van Etten, when speaking about his family owned business Galloy & Van Etten, which was started in 1899.

In this month’s Industry Perspective, Joey Marcella writes about when attending a trade show, workshop or other industry event, you should walk away with a “couple of good ‘nuggets’ of information.” I couldn’t agree more.

The natural stone industry is filled with companies of all sizes, but we know that most are small-to-medium size companies. When it comes to marketing and training, I often hear about limited budgets and staff resources.

As I write this, I’m sitting at Newark International Airport in New Jersey waiting for my flight to Indianapolis to board. My final destination is Bloomington, where my friends from the Indiana Limestone Institute will take me on a tour of several quarries in the area.

When a group of fabricators and other stone industry members come together at a fabricator forum, it immediately becomes an arena for an exchange of ideas, experiences, advice and solutions.

It's no surprise to anyone in the stone industry that we are in the middle of a shake-up, driven predominantly by a new construction and remodeling boom, the new import tariffs, the ever-growing number of new competitor fabricators and the merging and acquisition of low-performing and established fabrication businesses.

Visits to a stone shop or slab yard should not be a life threatening experience. But the truth is, stone can be dangerous and accidents happen all the time. They happen to stone workers, contractors, truckers and to the public.

Biesse Group is proud to announce the addition of North America Parts Quality Assurance Leader Gregory Bell following the continued expansion of the parts and service department in North America.