Donatoni Macchine, the Italian machine maker best known for its Jet bridge saws, is to be represented in the UK and Ireland from 1 September by a new company called Stone Automation Ltd, set up by Salvatore Caruso (of Classico Marble and Italian Luxury Surfaces in Langley, Berkshire).

Donatoni saws have been sold by CNC workcentre company Intermac since the two formed an alliance just ahead of the Marmo+Mac stone exhibition in Verona in 2015. The Intermac distributorship ends on 25 August.

With more than 50 years’ experience in stone processing equipment and machinery, Donatoni is a major manufacturer of technologies for processing natural stone, quartz and sintered materials, with more than 2,000 machines installed worldwide. The company has a continual investment programme for the development of solutions that contribute to constant control over the manufacturing processes.

Salvatore Caruso has worked in the stone industry for more than 30 years and has purchased four Donatoni Jet625 CNC saws for his own businesses.

He says his high opinion and working knowledge of Donatoni saws, as well as his existing UK distributorship of stone tooling by Wodiam, meant he was a natural candidate for the Donatoni UK and Ireland distributorship.

Salvatore set up Stone Automation Ltd to facilitate his stone technology distributorships that will come together in this business.

He is currently recruiting engineers, customer service and salespeople specifically to support existing and new Donatoni customers across the UK and Ireland in preparation for the 1 September takeover of the distribution of the Donatoni machines.

While Stone Automation prepares for the launch date, Donatoni’s immediate focus is the service structure and fast delivery of spare parts across the UK and Ireland.

Stone Automation and Donatoni say they place a strong emphasis on ensuring continuity and strengthening Donatoni’s after-sales support for existing customers, as well as giving assistance to new customers who will choose Donatoni in the years ahead.

Salvatore says of the deal: “I am delighted to be working with Donatoni as their new distributor for the UK and Ireland. Our experience of the company and their stone processing machines over the last 20 years has been second to none and I am looking forward to supporting existing and new Donatoni customers in the region.”

He says he is going to make Donatoni “number one for for service” because, as a fabricator himself, he knows waiting three hours for a call back when there’s a problem hurts.

Luca Donatoni says: “The search for a new partner for the distribution of our products in the UK and Ireland had to represent something new in the market. For this reason, our research was aimed at an interlocutor who understood stone fabrication well and who was aware of the importance of after-sales service – two fundamental elements to be able to support old and new customers – someone who spoke the same language.

“Our choice of Salvatore Caruso, owner of Classico Marble, former Donatoni customer, who is already involved in the distribution of other items, seemed to us the most correct choice. We are happy and very confident for the future.”

Intermac and its parent, Biesse, say they have no comment to make at this time.