Andy Bell, trading as Stone Equipment International, was Emmedue’s Dealer of the Year in 2014, selling 14 of the Italian manufacturer’s three, four and five axes bridge saws during the year.

Only in America were more saws sold – 22 of them. But there are three dealers in the USA and Andy outperformed each of them to win the Emmedue title.

Andy started representing Emmedue in the UK in December 2013 and had sold the first machine within a month.

He says Emmedue had been talking to him about representing them for 15 years. “At Marmomacc in Verona in 2013 I walked on to their stand and said to Christian Montanari, who heads EmmeDue: It’s time we worked together.

“Christian is in his early 30s and is really switched on – he knows which direction the business needs to go.”

Andy says what he liked about Emmedue machines was that both the specification and their cosmetics hit the target. He is also impressed by the Italians’

back-up and after-sales service.

Taking on the Emmedue agency coincided with an expansion internationally of Andy’s used machinery sales as Stone Equipment International. He says a lot of the new Emmedues he has sold have been part-exchanged. “It has meant customers have been able to have new machines they didn’t think they could afford.”