The recession has presented National Masonry and Stone Machinery UK with opportunities they have snapped up… which has produced some good deals for their customers

One of the most dynamic of the stone industry machinery, tools and consumables suppliers is Andy Bell, whose National Masonry business based in Bishop Auckland has grown to such an extent that he split it into separate companies at the end of 2009. Now National Masonry Ltd sell tools, consumables and reconditioned machinery while Stone Machinery UK Ltd concentrate on selling new machines.

You will have a chance to see both companies at the Natural Stone Show at ExCeL London 15-17 March – in fact, you will hardly be able to miss them because their stand (F60) is the largest at the exhibition.

The decision by National Masonry to set up a separate company for the sale of new machinery was prompted by being awarded exclusivity on the Italian Marmo Meccanica edge polishers.

Gaining that exclusivity was quite a coup by National Masonry. “From what I gather, virtually every machinery sales company in the UK was contacting Marmo Meccanica at that time,” Andy Bell told NSS.

Marmo Meccanica edge polishers were an ideal headline range for National Masonry and the perfect complement to the Cobalm bridge saws and smaller Mondial Mec saws they were already selling.

“We were perfectly placed to expand at that time,” says Andy. “When the recession hit we were able to accommodate it within a matter of weeks. It suits our style and has forced potential buyers of machinery to look beyond their usual suppliers.

“There’s only myself and Sharon involved in making decisions so we can move quickly.” – Sharon is Andy’s wife and a shareholder and Director of the business.

“While others were waiting to see who would be awarded the Marmo Meccanica agency I got on a plane in August 2009 when the agency became available and went to see them in Italy.”

Marmo Meccanica were not prepared to commit to another agent in the UK at that time but said they were willing to supply any company who sold a machine.

“It was never said that we had to prove we were capable of selling the machines but it was clear that Marmo Meccanica had thrown the ball in the air and whoever caught it was going to get the agency,” says Andy. And he did not take his eye off the ball. From the end of August until he was awarded the agency exclusively in December he sold 10 of the edge polishers.

He says: “The demand is out there if you can find it. I was very aggressive in my approach to obtain this agency because Marmo Meccanica are probably the best edge polishers in the world. We knew they would make a huge difference to our business.”

Stefano Amagliani of Marmo Meccanica told NSS at the time: “We had very, very good sales results and a very, very good relationship with Andy Bell in this period, which is why we decided to appoint him as exclusive dealer for this market.”

With Marmo Meccanica on board, Andy and Sharon decided it was time to create the second company of Stone Machinery UK to deal exclusively with new machinery sales while National Masonry concentrated on consumables, accessories and the used machines that National Masonry also sell.

In fact, their used machinery business helped them succeed in the new machinery market because it enabled them to offset price increases on new machinery that resulted from the pound falling from L1.30 to L1.05 by increasing the part exchange terms they offered on customers’ used machinery.

As National Masonry sell used machinery all over the world, there were exchange rate gains to be made to compensate for the exchange rate losses on new machinery.

In order to keep business moving, Stone Machinery UK have even gone into the machinery hire business, which gives customers the comfort of knowing what the weekly outlay will be and that if anything does go wrong they will not be saddled with an unexpected bill.

The latest move by National Masonry has been to join forces with the huge German tools and machinery wholesalers Weha, who sell 21,000 products across 17 product ranges, many made by or especially for them.

Weha are particularly well-known in the UK for their range of innovative materials handling equipment (more about that on page 36) and their low vibration pneumatic hammers.

From the beginning of this year, National Masonry had exclusivity on the whole range of Weha products in the UK, a good selection of which will be shown at the Natural Stone Show in March. Mick Tinkler, who has joined National Masonry from a local competitor, will be happy to show the range to you at ExCeL.