We all know that the increase in natural stone consumption in the U.S. has been remarkable over the past few years. The use of stone products - particularly in a slab format - has been exploding, as homeowners are considering granite kitchen countertops to be a staple of their residential projects. However, rise in slab consumption - coupled with the increase in new companies dealing with slabs - has led to a major issue that our industry needs to face: SAFETY.
Park Industries' high-production Prestige CNC stoneworking center produces curved edgework and complete sink cut-outs with touch-screen simplicity, the company reports. The machine was engineered to be a fast, easy-to-use work center, utilizing Park's proven, easy-to-operate CNC controls.
The Alpha® VSP 110 variable-speed wet polisher was designed to be the standard for wet polishing applications. As an option, the company's newest wet polisher comes with a step-down gear set to reduce spindle RPMs.
Specially created for the medium-small marble-shop, the Comandulli Penta edge polisher, available in North America from AGM, is a small-sized conveyor belt machine for straight edges, which assures high production with low energy consumption, the company reports.
When I was growing up, I remember reading a survey that definitively stated: “The typical American family has two-and-a-half children.†Despite never having met a half-child, that number stuck in my mind. Recently, the market research department at BNP Media (Stone World's parent company) conducted a groundbreaking survey of stone fabricators to determine the most prevalent industry trends.
It is no secret that the Brazilian granite industry has grown tremendously over the course of the last decade. In the early 1990s, Brazilian granite suppliers began seriously marketing material to the American market, and exports of granite from Brazil to the U.S. reached a total of $19.5 million in 1994. Five years later, that total reached $42.9 million, and by 2004, a total of $267.9 million worth of Brazilian granite was exported to the U.S., placing Brazil a close second behind Italy in terms of granite exports to America.
For several years now, the American stone industry has been on an incredible upswing -- particularly stone fabricators. In general, business has increased, and most shops seem to be busier than ever.
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