Cumbrian Stone in Penrith, Cumbria, has increased productivity with machinery and computers and is sharing the benefits with staff by reducing its working week to four days.

The idea of Friday POETS days is not exactly new and many companies have condensed a 40-hour working week into four days. But Cumbrian Stone says its employees will be working fewer hours with the company making up their pay so they receive what they would normally earn in a five-day week.

It says it has always had a generous salary package reviewed annually. “All of our employees have benefited from a pay increase almost every year since we started and our current pay rates are, and will continue to remain, well above the national living wage in order to help our employees with the rising costs of inflation,” says Sales & Marketing Manager Sam Morris.

The company employs 10 people in its factory and four in its offices. It says they have always worked long hours – 7am to 5.30pm with half-an-hour for lunch and 15-minute breaks morning and afternoon. But the company felt they were working too much, given the physical nature of stone production, so it decided the best way to combat this was to give them all a three-day weekend.

The new working week begins on 3 October and is introduced for a six-month trial, although Sam Morris says Cumbrian Stone does not expect to go back to a five-day week at the end of six months.

Cumbrian Stone expects to be leading the way in a new way of working that it anticipates could spread throughout the stone industry and to other industries in the years ahead.

In France, when working hours were reduced by the government, productivity and output increased. Cumbrian Stone is hoping for a similar outcome. “We’re quite excited to see how it all pans out,” says Sam.

He adds: “The company wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the work the guys have put in. They built the company up from scratch. It’s a blooming hard industry with heavy materials and they work hard.”

The company was formed in 2006 and some of the people working there have been there since the beginning.

“We like to do things differently,” says Sam, “and always like to put ourselves at the forefront of innovation and change within the natural stone industry.” 

Cumbrian Stone concedes that some people will say it’s crazy to cut the working week to four days and will wonder why a manufacturing business would want to pay the same amount for fewer hours worked? Surely, they will say, a four-day week will harm production, put prices up and reduce the level of service? But Cumbrian Stone is questioning that orthodoxy.

During the past decade the company has invested heavily in new technology and machinery, developing its own computer programmes and equipping with GMM CNC saws and a Donatoni Quadrix CNC workcentre, improving processes and efficiency levels.

This has allowed it to drive up production levels significantly without needing to increase the number of people working there. At the same time prices have remained competitive and the company is known for the high quality of stonework it supplies.

Sam: “These efficiency improvements mean we’re confident we can maintain our current production levels in terms of both volume and quality while operating over four days rather than five, meaning there’s no increase in price or loss of service to our customers.

“Our team will continue to deliver an industry-beating turn around on new enquires and we’re 100% committed to ensuring that our lead times for our natural stone products still come in faster than the industry standard.

“So why not simply pocket the additional profits from these efficiency savings and keep operating over five days? The blunt answer is… because our employees deserve the rewards for their hard work!

“We firmly believe that our stonemasons and sawyers are some of the best in the industry, and our team has given 110% to building Cumbrian Stone into the success it is today.

"However, the last few years have shown all of us that there’s far more to life than just work, and with the work-life balance being debated more and more we decided to help our team make the most of their well-earned salaries by making every weekend a three-day weekend (because who doesn’t want a Thursday to be the new Friday?).”

Cumbrian Stone believes longer resting and recovery times during busier periods will increase employee happiness and, combined with job security, should make working at the company an even more attractive prospect to aid recruitment – and many companies are finding it hard to recruit people to the stone industry.

Cumbrian Stone is also keen to explore the benefits the shorter working week will bring to the company’s carbon footprint – a factor that is increasingly influencing developers and designers when specifying natural stone on their projects.

Because everyone is having a four-day week, the showroom on Gilwilly Industrial Estate will only be open Mondays to Thursdays, but Cumbrian Stone says customers can take a virtual tour of its premises on its website.

It showed its level of sophistication with the use of technology at the Natural Stone Show in London last time, when it had a virtual reality headset that allowed visitors to explore its premises in Penrith without leaving ExCeL, where the Show is held.

For more information about how Cumbrian Stone’s award-winning natural stonemasonry is used, opportunities to join its team and how the company can benefit clients, developers, architects and designers, email sales@cumbrianstone.co.uk or call 01768 867867. Or, if you are nearby Monday to Thursday, 8am to 5pm, call into the showroom on Gilwilly Industrial Estate, Penrith.

 

Mark Priestman is a Director of a training consultancy whose mantra is: Qualify the Workforce! Here he presents the latest moves that can help you do that.

CITB is investing £800,000 in a new employer network pilot project to aid the way the industry accesses funding for training.

The pilot will involve nearly 4,000 in-scope businesses.

The focus is on giving small and micro businesses a simplified process to get their hands on the funds for training.

According to the CITB: “Through the support of established and experienced delivery partners, the pilot enables employers to recognise their training priorities and receive guidance on how best to find and fund the training most appropriate to them.

“This transformative way of working provides a huge opportunity for employers to not only voice their training requirements, but also play a fundamental role in deciding how funds are used in their local area.”

If you find yourself involved in this pilot, you will not need to process the grant scheme, as CITB will directly support those involved.

CITB Chief Executive, Tim Balcon says: “The pilots are being funded by CITB and delivered by local organisations with a pedigree in finding and delivering training in their area.”

If any readers of this magazine are asked to participate in the pilot, we’d love to hear from you to see how it maps out.

CSCS cards are not for everyone

I’ve heard lately of some contractors trying to force a square peg into a round hole by ensuring anyone who visits a site as part of their company holds a CSCS card.

But this is not necessary. Anyone can visit a site as an escorted guest. The only people who need a CSCS card are those undertaking construction works on the site.

NVQ assessors, for example shouldn’t need a CSCS card if they are escorted by their learner.

Sign up for a fee-neutral SAP

We at Priestman Associates are currently looking for people who want to enrol on CITB Specialist Applied-Skills Programmes (SAPs)in either Stone Fixing or Façade Preservation.

The programme is fee-neutral and available to employees of in-scope businesses who have the facilities to mentor their employees’ learning.

Those who enrol must attend off-site training for 20 days during the first 12 months of the programme. In the following six months they undertake level 2 NVQ assessment. This allows the learner to be connected to their employer’s work as much as possible.

Those interested should contact me using the details under the picture above or on the website below.

www.priestmanweb.com

Two partners in a construction firm have been fined for failing to adequately control the risk to its employees from exposure to vibration when using power tools.

Employees of Roywood Contractors worked at various sites using tools without adequate control of their exposure to harmful vibration. As a result, an employee who had been working at the company for 12 years suffered ill-health from hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).

An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found that on or before the 15 January 2020 the company failed to assess the risk to employees from exposure to vibration adequately by not having appropriate measures to control exposure or place employees under suitable health surveillance to monitor their condition.

Andrew Hatto and Paul Kiff, trading as Roywood Contractors, of Tilford Road, Tilford, Farnham, Surrey, both admitted at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court on September 20 that they had breached Regulation 6(1) and 7(1) of the Control of Vibration Regulations 2005. They were each fined £1,150 and ordered to pay costs of £3,500 each.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Leah Sullivan said: “This was a case of the company completely failing to grasp the importance of hand-arm vibration syndrome health surveillance.

“If they had understood why health surveillance was necessary, it would have ensured that they had the right systems in place to monitor worker’s health and the employee’s condition would not have been allowed to develop to a severe and life altering stage.”

For HSE guidance on controlling HAVS, go to www.hse.gov.uk/vibration.

Marmo+Mac, Europe’s major international stone exhibition in Verona, Italy, looks like being busier this year than last year’s Covid-muted event. In the UK, the Bank of England warns of impending recession.

There have been some changes in the stone machinery supply market this year, with GMM buying Bavelloni, Donatoni Macchine moving its UK distribution from Intermac to a new company set up by Salvatore Caruso called Stone Automation and Baca now being represented by KMT Waterjet.

The machinery itself continues to get faster and more efficient, thanks largely to ever more computing power, although priority has been just to get enough machines made to meet demand in the past couple of years.

Shortages of steel, computer chips and components (especially those made in China) have frustrated manufacturers, as have the difficulties in getting ships and containers and the prices having to be paid for them. Delays at the docks, worsened by Brexit, have added to the costs and delays in the UK. And on top of it all dock workers at Felixstowe went on strike in August for the first time in 30 years. They were on strike again, this time joined by Liverpool dockers, this month (September).

The rising costs of fuel are taking their toll as well. It is not just adding to the cost of moving materials around, it impacts input prices at factories. As James Turton at New Stone Age points out, the surge in energy costs have consequences people do not even consider – like for the ovens used to cure the paint on machinery.

At least the government has promised industry a price cap like that for consumers, albeit for six months only, at least initially, once the government has figured out how it is going to work.

In spite of the difficulties, machinery manufacturers and their representatives in the UK and other countries have enjoyed high levels of sales in the past 30 months, helped by low interest rates and government-backed loans.

Roccia Machinery, which sells Italian GMM saws and waterjets in the UK, is not alone in saying this year is going to be a record-breaker. Mark Brownlee at Accurite puts it this way: “It’s better than any period I can ever remember.”

Much of the stone industry’s machinery is made in Italy and the Associazione Italiana Marmomacchine (AIM), the trade association of Italian stone machinery manufacturers, reports an increase in exports in 2021 of 18.5% compared with 2020, although 2020 had seen a significant fall in sales in spite of the pick-up in the second half of the year. Compared with 2019, sales in 2021 were up 0.3%. According to AIM’s Studies Center, sales for the first quarter of 2022 were up a further 3.4%, and it could have been more if companies had been able to make more.

With sales worth €52.9million, the UK was the Italian’s fifth largest export market, behind the USA, Spain, Poland and Germany, in that order.

For stone companies in the UK, the cost of materials, labour, property, energy, fuel and services are all increasing, while in order to remain competitive the prices firms can charge for their goods and services cannot always reflect the full extent of those increases.

HMRC figures for volumes and values of stone imports (see the graph above) show the gap between them, indicating prices of imported stone are rising. Stone imports are still relatively small so peaks and troughs are exaggerated by monthly variations, but the trend is clear.

The all industry Producer Price Index recorded by the Office for National Statistics tells the same story of input prices rising faster than output prices. Input price increases did ease in July along with fuel prices, but were still well ahead of output price increases.

On the plus side, many stone companies should be in a good position to absorb some of the rising costs thanks to the high levels of investment in new machinery in the past two years. Initially interest-free government-backed loans that were available to firms from schemes such as the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) stimulated that level of investment.

CBILS and BBLS are now closed to new customers, although the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) has been extended again. Launched in April 2021, RLS was intended to run until the end of that year, but was extended first for another six months and now until the end of August 2024. And the requirement for borrowers to show they have been affected by Covid has now been dropped for most loans.

Up to July this year, more than £4.5billion had been lent to 20,600 smaller businesses across the UK through RLS.

The temporary capital allowance super-deduction, giving tax relief on 130% of the price of capital investments, has also encouraged firms to invest now rather than waiting.

Introduced in the 2021 Spring Budget, the super-deduction is due to end with March in 2023, and the Chancellor, Kwasi Kwateng, did not mention the super-deduction in his 'fiscal event' on 23 September, so presumably it is still ending with March next year. However, he said the £1million threshold for the Annual Investment Allowance will be maintained instead of being reduced to £200,000 as previously intended.

The intention had also been to increase Corporation Tax from 19% to 25% at the same time as the super-deduction ended, but that idea was scrapped in the fiscal event and it will stay at 19%.

There was other good news for business in the fiscal event. This year's temporary 1.25% increase in National Insurance, which some described as a tax on jobs, is being brought to an end on 6 November and it will not be making a come-back as the previously proposed Health & Social Care Levy in April next year.

The 2017 and 2021 changes to IR35 off-payroll working rules are being repealed as well, which will please many as they are chaotic. From April, workers providing their services via an intermediary “will once again be responsible”, said the Chancellor, for determining their employment status and paying the correct tax and National Insurance.

The Chancellor confirmed the Government is in early discussions to create 40 ‘investment zones’ that actually cover most of England. They will offer a freeze on rates for businesses moving on to the sites and no National Insurance on the first £50,000 a new employee earns. There will be no stamp duty on the purchase of land on the sites, either.

The investment zones are presumably in addition to the free ports the government announced under the ‘levelling up’ programme to alleviate some of the difficulties associated with Brexit, although free ports were not mentioned by the Chancellor on 23 September. The government also plans to publish a list of infrastructure projects it will support.

Income tax was also cut. The top level was reduced from 45% to 40% and the bottom level from 20% to 19%. And the Chancellor confirmed that business would get a cap on energy prices in line with those being given to consumers, although for firms it is for six months (with the possibility of that being extended) while consumers have been given a two-year cap.

Stamp duty on housing is being cut, which will offset some of the increase in the cost of mortgages due to the Bank of England raising the base interest rate on 22 September (the seventh increase since December) putting it at 2.25%. More increases are expected in the months ahead.

It is unusual to see the Bank of England monetary policy to reduce inflation being at odds with the government’s fiscal policy to stimulate demand, and many economists are interested to see if what is already being called Kwasi-economics can deliver both growth and lower inflation.

As the interest rate was increased the day before the Chancellor's fiscal event, the Bank of England's Governor, Andrew Bailey, warned of impending recession in spite of inflation expected to go well over 10%. However, the Chancellor said the day afterwards that the fuel subsidies, which could add an extra £200billion or so to the country's already record debt, would knock five percentage points off the level of inflation reached.

Whatever the future holds, the past 24 months have seen a lot of stone companies investing in new machinery, and a lot more UK companies this year say they are going to visit Marmo+Mac in Verona on 27-30 September than went last year, when there was considerably more concern about Covid-19.

The dates this year are Tuesday to Friday. The show has previously ended on a Saturday, when most of the visitors are local, but that has been dropped this time.

Even some of the UK machinery agents, who normally support their principals in Verona every year did not go last year, although they are planning to attend this year and will be available to speak to English-speaking visitors.

One British company that did exhibit last year is LPE Group, and it will be back in Verona this year showing the American Laser Products’ templaters, OmniCubed materials handling equipment and BVC vacuum cups (BVC stands for ‘better vacuum cups’).

The big news from Laser Products, the American manufacturer of laser templating devices, is the new LT3 Raptor software. It comes after the retirement of Dan Lewis, the Laser Products owner, last year and the company being bought by Josh Hulburt, who was at one time a fabricator on the West Coast of the USA, although he sold that business some years ago.

Under the new owner, the Laser Products development team has been increased from three people to 10 and the new software has been written. It is due to be launched in America two weeks before Marmo+Mac, with Marmo+Mac being the first time it has gone on general release in Europe. It will be on show on the LPE stand.

During its development some Laser Products customers, including some in the UK, had soft-launch versions to ensure there were no unforeseen problems with it.

Its big advantage is that it is quicker. How much quicker will depend on the proficiency of the templater using it, but it could mean an extra kitchen templated each day.

Built from the ground up, it provides software stability with Windows OS and subsequent updates. A faster processor, with Bluetooth connectivity, means points are captured without a lag.

There are numerous improved functions, such as the enhanced Quick-Actions menu that makes it even easier to add and organise frequently used functions like offsets and fillets. There is an integrated TeamViewer for more advanced remote technical support and visual notification to alert the operator of templating errors in real-time to ensure error-free drawings.

Carl Sharkey, who heads the British-based LPE Group, says he showed the LT3 Raptor to 10 companies ahead of the launch to gauge their reaction and they enthused so much to their colleagues in the industry that another 15 companies have been in touch to ask about getting it.

One product LPE Group will not be exhibiting at Marmo+Mac this year is a Baca robot arm with a cutting disc and waterjet. Carl says he has probably sold as many as he is going to in the UK and is now working once again with Italian machinery manufacturer Breton.

Carl once ran Breton UK, but in 2017 split with Breton, which set up its own office in the UK. But Carl had been successful selling the machines and many of those who had bought them continued to contact LPE Group for spares and services, so now LPE Group is once again selling Breton’s undeniably well-respected stone processing machinery in the UK.

Baca is now represented by KMT Waterjet, which has centres in America, Germany and China, and says it is establishing a new company called KMT Waterjet UK. The current contact for the UK is Marketing Director Wolfgang Emrich on Wolfgang.Emrich@kmtwaterjet.com / 0049 170 452 2669.

KMT Waterjet is now the single point of contact in Europe and the UK for all Baca Systems’ parts, price quotations and sales orders. Many spare parts are immediately available.

The Robo SawJet is a six-axes programmable saw and abrasive waterjet cutting system. It incorporates lean industrial machine technologies and an intuitive operator interface, where cutting paths are generated with a few clicks of a mouse.

Its compact footprint means it requires less space than many saws and its combination of a 20kW direct-drive circular saw for straight cuts and the precision of waterjet cuts for angles and arcs, including tap holes, attracted attention among worktop fabricators. Baca also has a water filtration and recycling system called Pure.

Baca Systems President Kevin McManus says: “We are excited to be able to provide our customers in the United Kingdom and Europe with the ability to get the spares and service parts they need more quickly.

“Affording our customers easier access to parts and shorter lead times by working directly with KMT Waterjet, will enable them to better maintain and support their Baca Systems equipment over the long run.”

KMT Waterjet Systems is a manufacturer of UHP waterjet pumps and components that are integrated into complete waterjet systems through partnerships with a global network of Original Equipment Manufacturers of waterjet machines.

Jeremy Sweet, President of KMT Waterjet, says: “KMT is pleased to support Baca Systems with navigating the Brexit rules in the United Kingdom as we have an established regional office offering our customer service team, aftermarket parts, and field service engineers to provide assistance to end customers.”

Kevin McManus says Baca’s technicians can log into customers’ computers to troubleshoot any issues arising. He says Baca has “highly skilled field service technicians that can be dispatched as necessary to help our customers avoid costly downtime”, although he adds: “We’re proud of the fact, however, that the great majority of customer service requests are resolved remotely, without requiring a site visit.”

Not all Marmo+Mac exhibitors had finalised exactly what they would be showing on their stand in August, not least because much of Italy goes on holiday in August. Last year the holidays were cut short for many. This year most had returned to the normal month off.

It still was not clear, for example, whether any Bavelloni machines would be making an appearance on the GMM stand now that GMM has taken a controlling (52%) share of Bavelloni SpA, creating a group with international sales that exceed €100million.

GMM, represented in the UK by Roccia Machinery, is based in Gravellona Toce in Italy. It is a leading manufacturer of machinery for stone cutting, milling, and polishing. These days it also makes edge polishers, as a result of the acquisition of Cemar in 2009, and waterjet cutters following the acquisition of the Australian Techni Waterjet in 2018.

In the past five years GMM’s turnover had grown from €36million to €70million, 85% of which is generated outside Italy.

Joining forces with Bavelloni introduces Bavelloni CNC workcentres to the GMM stable, which could mean the Bottero Practica Plus workcentres that Roccia has been selling in Britain will be replaced by Bavellonis in the Roccia offering.

For Bavelloni SpA, based in Lentate sul Seveso in Italy, a strategic development plan started in 2015 has resulted in an increase in turnover of 75%, including integrating a tools business into its product range.

GMM and Bavelloni will, between them, employ 400 people and operate six production plants and eight direct subsidiaries. The plan is to integrate the respective technologies of the two companies into an annual production of over 800 machines for three main business sectors: Stone with the GMM brand; Glass with the Bavelloni brand; Fabrication under the Techni Waterjet brand.

For Bavelloni, the partnership with GMM opens a new opportunity to develop the stone side of its business in the machinery and tooling sectors, having previously concentrated on the glass industry. Nevertheless, its NRG series of stone processing CNCs, available in three, four and five axes configurations, have their UK proponents.

One product you will definitely be able to see on the GMM stand is the monobloc Extra 480. It has a 370DEG rotating head that tilts to 90DEG. A tilting table (0-85DEG) is driven by a hydraulic cylinder with its own dedicated power unit. The head carries blades up to 625mm DIA. It has a vertical stroke (Z axis) of 480mm and the X and Y axes are 3750mm x 3250mm, respectively.

It is fast and accurate, thanks to brushless motors with recirculating ball guides – helical rack & pinion comes as an option – and precision gearboxes.

There is also an option of a 6000rpm electrospindle with a shaft drilled for water delivery, while a 1450rpm 13kW spindle and a 4kW side spindle for drilling holes come as standard. Water consumption at 3bar is 40 litres per minute.

The vacuum system has three sections and there is a four position magnetic tool changer for core bits and router tools.

To control it all is a new 21in LED colour touch display with integrated machine controls, programming and control unit, a USB port, LAN connection and a remote service system.

The Extra 480 comes with tool diameter control for easy setting up and a slab thickness reader.

More surprising for most was the change of distributor in the UK and Ireland for Donatoni Macchine. Donatoni saws, the best known being the Jet, have been sold by CNC workcentre company Intermac since the two formed an alliance just ahead of the Marmo+Mac stone exhibition in 2015.

Intermac has always said sales had increased considerably since it added the Donatoni bridge saws and Montresor edge polishers (it bought Montresor in 2017) to the machines it was selling because it meant it had the whole package for worktop fabricators.

But Donatoni has decided to move its distributorship in the UK and Ireland to a new company called Stone Automation Ltd set up by Salvatore Caruso (of Classico Marble and Italian Luxury Surfaces in Langley, Berkshire).

Donatoni said the distributor arrangement with Intermac ended on 25 August and Stone Automation’s began on 1 September. Intermac and its parent, Biesse, said they had no comment to make about the Donatoni decision.

By the way, Donatoni Macchine should not be confused with Donatoni Costruzioni Meccaniche, which is represented in the UK by D Zambelis.

Salvatore Caruso, who has worked in the stone industry for more than 30 years, has purchased four Donatoni Jet625 CNC saws for his own business and 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. Having gained it, Salvatore set up Stone Automation Ltd to facilitate his stone technology distributorships.

Donatoni said its focus is the service structure and fast delivery of spare parts across the UK and Ireland, and Salvatore says he is going to make Donatoni “number one 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... Our choice of Salvatore Caruso, owner of Classico Marble, a 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, part of the Biesse Group, will still have a major presence at Marmo+Mac, showing its machining centres, cutting processes integrated with handling systems, sheet storage systems, waterjet cutting systems, and a horizontal edge polisher.

And tool-maker Diamut, also part of Biesse Group with its tools sold by Stonegate in the UK, will be showing its re-engineered diamond tools that now have no cobalt in the binder, instead including metal powders with low environmental impact that are harmless to health. Cobalt-free binders mean the waste from machining natural stone is now inert, so should be less expensive to dispose of.

 

The D Zambelis team will be at Marmo+Mac supporting the manufacturers of the machines they sell in the UK – Achilli, CMG, Donatoni Costruzioni Meccaniche, Omag, OMGM Bellani and Terzago.

They will also be on the stands of Dal Forno, which makes vacuum lifts, Giacomini (cranes) and Italmecc (water recycling and air filtration), all of which D Zambelis also represents. And they will be happy to handle enquiries about CNC tools, bridge saw blades and chemicals. If you want to meet up with D Zambelis in Verona call 07891 484806.

On the Achilli stand you will see the latest bridge saws, bench saws, floor grinders and slab trolleys, alongside the popular four axes Gold CNC bridge saw, complete with tilting table and variable speed motor. It will be in the company of the MBS C TS CNC saw, MSA mitre saw, TFM motorized saw and TOP multipurpose machine.

CMG makes the Taurus bullnoser as part of its robust edge polisher range for convex, inclined and flat edges. The Taurus is customisable, so it can include pre-cutting and calibration units and chamfer units. It features the latest automatic lubrication system.

OMGM Bellani also makes edge polishers, from flats to advanced. The Linea has proved particularly popular. It is a flat-edge polisher with eight heads and two upper and two lower bevels. It is compact, making it ideal for any size of factory. 

On the Donatoni Costruzioni Meccaniche stand will be displays of the automated processing lines for splitting, trimming, polishing and palletising stone that the company has been making for more than 60 years. They will include the popular cross-cutting machine, the DM1X.

All the lines are fully customised to customers’ specific needs to improve productivity and reduce labour costs.

Omag is a heavyweight among stone machinery producers and its stand will feature the Area5 Advanced fully customisable milling machine for masonry work and the Digitale5 monobloc bridge saw. It will show CNC workcentres and waterjets, all using the latest mechanical technology and advanced software.

The Digitale5 is particularly popular in the UK. It comes complete with a camera for vein-matching, suction pads to move workpieces, and probes to measure material thickness and tool dimensions for maximum cutting performance.

On Terzago’s stand, the bridge saws will include a UK favourite for several years now, the CUTe interpolated four axes saw with 1/2in gas CNC tool connection.

Terzago has been making primary and secondary saws for cutting stone for more than 100 years, with its longevity speaking volumes about the quality of its products. Its range covers the spectrum from cast-iron block cutters carrying blades of up to 3.5m to CNC bridge saws like the CUTe.

What else to look out for? The three-pad VL3L pneumatic lifter on the Dal Forno stand; bridge, derrick and gantry cranes from Swiss company Giacomini; and from Italmecc the BCM 11 water recycling system with filterpress and the Air Dry 330 suction cabin for dry technology dust collection.

 

Mark Brownlee of Accurite will be back on the Denver stand at Marmo+Mac this year after deciding not to attend the exhibition last year. Diamond tool-maker Vetro, which represents Denver in Ireland (north and south of the border) will also have representatives on the stand.

Denver is featuring 10 machines carrying out live simulations during the fair. The machines include the Quota Stone 3350 CNC workstation, Formula and Tecnika CNC saws, the new four-axes Action monobloc saw, and the Unika CNC complete worktop manufacturing unit.

All Denver’s machines now sport the new livery introduced last year and incorporate the changes necessary to accommodate porcelain / sintered surfaces. All the CNCs also have the new DDX software, which an area of the Denver stand will be dedicated to, so you will be able to see for yourself the benefits of its various interactive features.

Accurite has pre-purchased some of the saws and miller-routers you will see on the stand, so they will be available for the UK’s pre-Christmas rush. They will join the five-axes Formula that Accurite already has as a demonstration machine at its headquarters in Cumbria.

And more demonstration machines are planned. Mark Brownlee says: “It’s one thing a customer coming to see a machine, a step up is to see it simulating, but the ultimate is for the customer seeing the machine actually being worked in a factory environment. And this is what we’ve introduced.

“A particularly good example is our edge-polisher – customers can bring their own particular materials and see how the machine polishes them – an actual reflection of what will happen in their factory.

“As you can imagine, since we introduced this a couple of years ago due to Covid, it has really taken off, and most machines, if they’re unfamiliar to the customer, are now sold in this way.

“It has caused quite a stir among tooling suppliers who, as the word spreads, are asking us to use their blades, polishing pads and other tools and equipment on the machine demonstrations.”

The Formula currently in the demonstration area in Cumbria is the latest of Denver’s five-axes machines. Mark Brownlee has high hopes for it. It is simple to operate and stacked with standard feature options, including vacuum piece movement, a rubber cutting surface, hydraulic tilt table and enlarged bed. It is fast and has a price tag Accurite believes will make it particularly popular.

Another Denver machine being shown at Marmo+Mac and already in stock in Cumbria is the Vision, for face polishing and texturing.

It has become increasingly popular over the past few years as more companies add bespoke finishes to standard materials. The latest software can identify irregular shapes, making it even easier to hone, bush-hammer, leather and antique, as well as polish.

After Brexit, Accurite increased the number of machines and level of spares it stocks in the UK and in 2023 expects to have more than £1.5million-worth of machinery in Cumbria keeping lead times short.

“The market has changed and evolved quickly over the past few years, particularly with Brexit and Covid,” says Mark. “Customers are no longer prepared to wait 6-12 weeks for machines. If demand is there, our customers need to take advantage of this immediately, not in 6-12 weeks’ time.

“By having large stocks and the forward planning of future orders, both our suppliers and customers get what they want.”

Lately Accurite has extended its factory to gear up for dealing with the refurbishment of more used machines. Mark says if the economy does now contract, the demand for refurbished machines is likely to increase and he wants to be ready.

New Stone Age, widely known for the BM and BV-Tech saws and OMEC Water treatment plant it sells, will be back at Marmo+Mac this year.

Unprecedented demand for new machines from the companies New Stone Age represents are tempered by the same supply chain challenges everyone else is facing. It was also a challenge during the lockdowns getting technicians for installations, although New Stone Age says it was able to overcome these difficulties.

It says demand remains strong in the UK for the machines, despite the ‘noise’ of a downturn.

New Stone Age says some of its customers recognise demand for indigenous stone products could be driven by customers wanting a more local and ethical product, which in turn is driving demand for machinery.

And because some of the machinery required was different from what New Stone Age has been supplying, it has started new collaborations with machine manufactures MD Dario, which makes small vertical wire saws used for tasks such as shaping granite kerbs, and Dazzini, the manufacturer of quarry wire saws and chainsaws. Both companies will be at Marmo+Mac.

BM continues to be one of the world’s major manufactures of traditional frame saws, monoblades, monowires and multiwires, and in Verona will be showing a two column Kodiak 26 Evolution MultiWire.

Many customers in the UK are choosing monowires as slabbing saws, although New Stone Age says there continues to be a demand for the BM monoblade disc cutters – the BM Super and BM Super 800 – alongside the BM Monofil single wire saw.

Both blades and wires have their advocates. A monowire is usually considered quicker than a monoblade but New Stone Age says there is little difference in productivity between the BM Super 800 and a Monofil.

Advocates of the monoblade say it is more accurate than a wire and has a lower operating cost, lower tool costs and lower consumable cost (no rubber linings and guide wheels).

New Stone Age says it is also installing a second multiblade frame saw, a BM15 (with a 1500mm wide frame), this year. Despite the initial installation costs of the foundations, over the life of the machine the cost per square meter of cut is low. And the accuracy and cleanliness of the finish is exceptional in medium-to-soft sedimentary stones.

BV-Tech will be showing a CALBV/600M 1 + 2 calibrating and honing machine at Marmo+Mac that is destined for one of the New Stone Age customers processing sandstone, ashlar and paving. It will be joining other BV-Tech machines at the company, including block cutters and processing lines. The new machine will complete a third processing line for honing ashlar.

Other BV-Techs New Stone Age has supplied this year include a TBV/1600–4MG automatic block cutter and an FTB/1600–4MG multi-bladed 1600 automatic bridge saw with 8m of rail. The IBV/600 automatic heading machine also remains popular. It is available in widths from 600–1500mm and can cut material up to 300mm thick.

Of the new brands represented by New Stone Age at Marmo+Mac, Cortan will be showing surface texturing machines for flaming, bush hammering and sand blasting and MD Dario is exhibiting various configurations of its SET vertical wire saws and the MDX SN44 robot arm saw for cutting and shaping stone up to 250mm thick. New Stone Age is currently supplying a SET400/SV3 vertical wiresaw to a customer in Scotland.

Dazzini is exhibiting a chain saw on a backhoe for squaring blocks. It will also have a PD 1500, which claims to be the only transportable diamond wire saw to have a protected diamond wire circuit, making it practically a mobile monowire.

Stone Equipment International will be at Marmo+Mac supporting Emmedue and Marmo Meccanica, which have stands next to each other in Hall 3.

Stone Equipment International Managing Director Andy Bell says the Emmedue Astra Pro saw has been particularly successful in the UK as an economical alternative to a five axes saw.

The Astra is a three-plus-one axes saw. It can do most of what a five axes saw can do, although it can’t cut circles. Andy maintains that as most stone companies do not want to cut circles, it is not worth their spending an extra £20,000-£30,000 on a five axes saw. And plenty of his customers seem to agree with him as he says he has already sold 11 of the Astras this year.

The Astra comes with an 18HP motor, 3400mm x 1900mm stroke, inverter on the motor to adjust the speed up to 3,000RPM for economy and cutting difficult materials such as sintered stone/porcelain, a head that rotates automatically through 0-90DEG and can be manually tilted for angled cuts, a hydraulic tilting table that can be manually turned and locked in any position required, and a laser. Installation and training is included.

If you want to see one, it will be on the Emmedue stand at Marmo+Mac alongside a Discovery five axes bridge saw, a Globo 850 (a five axes machine that can be a saw and a miller-router), and the Contor 360 CNC workcentre.

On the Marmo Meccanica stand there will be five edge polishers on show, including a prototype LCH 711 that is specifically for working with ceramics/sintered stones.

It will be alongside an LPZ 8221, an LCG 833, an LCV 722 and an LCV 711.

The machines give an indication of the range available from Marmo Meccanica – but only an indication because there are variations covering all requirements.

In the UK, Andy says most of the machines he has sold lately have been top of the range rather than entry level versions, possibly because demand for worktops has been so high that companies have been looking for machines that can increase productivity rather than trying to save money on the purchase price.

An attractive proposition from Stone Equipment International has always been that it offers generous part-exchange deals on new Marmo Meccanicas, because it has its own workshops for refurbishing the used machines.

Stone Equipment International also started increasing its stock levels of Marmo Meccanicas during the Covid pandemic because lead times on machinery were lengthening and when people need a new machine they tend to want it quickly. With 15 of the most popular machines currently in stock – like the LCR for flat edges and pencil rounds – machines can be delivered in a day or so rather than waiting for what can now be months for them to arrive in the UK from overseas. Andy says by January next year he will have 20 Marmo Meccanicas in stock.

After more than 30 years in the stone industry, he says he finds it gratifying that people he has dealt with for many years are now starting to introduce him to the next generation entering the industry, and that Stone Equipment International is still being recommended for providing the solutions needed.

Stone & Glass, which will be at Marmo+Mac in support of CMS Brembana CNC workcentres and waterjets, Sasso, best known for its edge polishers although it also makes other machinery, and Bovone edge polishers.

Stone & Glass has lately merged with engineering company Total Plant Analysis based in Shropshire. Total was set up by engineer Darren Oakley in 2007, the same year Phil Birchall started his business, which has become Stone & Glass, originally selling used machinery to the glass industry.

Darren is moving into the Stone & Glass premises in Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan, and becomes Chief Operating Officer of Stone & Glass, with Phil remaining Chief Executive Officer. The two men have known and respected each other for many years.

The merger gives Stone & Glass Total’s four engineers. “We got fed up looking for engineers,” says Phil, and the merger solves the problem. At the same time, Phillip Haith, who has a long history of selling Brembanas, originally in America, joins the Stone & Glass team on the sales side.

CMS is promising something new and exciting from Brembana in Verona but wants to keep it under wraps until the show.

Stone & Glass says it deals with more individual companies in the stone industry than it does in the glass industry, although each glass company spends more. And Phil Birchall says a particular selling point on the Brembanas is the spindle exchange, so when a spindle needs replacing Stone & Glass will part exchange it. The replacement costs between perhaps £3,000 and £7,000 (depending on the condition of the spindle being replaced) instead of more than £15,000 than a new one on its own costs. The old spindles are returned to CMS to be refurbished.

Stone & Glass says that among the Sasso machines the K600 saw with a concrete bed has proved popular among stone companies in the UK, although the best sellers are still Sasso’s edge polishers.

The concrete bed of the K600 allows inside corners to be cut square using a plunge cut. And the disc cutting through the concrete bed has the advantage of cleaning the diamonds.

Bruno Machado of On Point Engineering will be in Verona supporting the French stone machinery manufacturer Thibaut, whose products are among those sold by On Point in the UK.

Thibaut is another company keeping the wraps on a new product it says it will be launching at Marmo+Mac this year.

Whatever that might turn out to be, the company says it will also be showing its T952 five axes multi-function saw-cum-workcentre, its T812 miller-router and the TWJ 3317 waterjet.

AF Jones has three strings to its bow: architectural stonework, heritage and interiors. With Megan becoming the sixth generation of her family in the firm and charged with business development, and a new factory for interiors due next year, optimism abounds.

At the front of AF Jones’ workshops and new showroom in Ipsden, Oxfordshire, a carved runner leaves the starting block in the first column of a portico. He runs from column to column, the bold lines and modern idiom of the carving symbolising the innovation and modernisation of the company. On the sixth column, embellished with intricate hand carving, he stretches for the finishing line.

The columns were produced on a six-axes CNC in the AF Jones factory. They are gritty and poignant art, with the last figure hand carved by one of their own developed apprentices, symbolising not just the company’s ambition and continual development, but also the importance of craftsmanship underpinning everything that AF Jones does.

This balance of acknowledging the rich history of the company and the family that founded and continues to run it, and keeping alive the craftsmanship of architectural stonemasonry while never standing still, always looking to innovate, challenge and look forward is “absolutely central” to AF Jones and its culture, says Megan Jones. She is the daughter of Managing Director Angus Jones and the sixth generation of the family to join the business.

The latest addition to the displays outside the premises shows an impressive post-tensioned stone staircase mounted on a frame (pictured left). Feature staircases have become an important aspect of modern interiors and the display emphasises AF Jones’ focus on interiors as one of the three major sectors of its business along with architectural and heritage stonemasonry.

AF Jones is a traditional stonemasonry business that has historically concentrated on the architectural and heritage sides of the industry. But Megan points out that the stone interiors market has been growing significantly. Angus makes it clear that AF Jones has been delivering high spec, sophisticated interiors projects for certain clients for decades, but that investment in this growing sector is backing the team, their knowledge, and a long-held view that they can do better in this market.

AF Jones’ main premises are on the A4074 that runs between Reading and Oxford. The site is called, appropriately, The Old Quarry Works, although before Angus bought it in 2001 and finished moving the AF Jones works out of its town centre premises in Reading in 2007, it had been a garage.

The new showroom was built to enhance and emphasise the interiors sector, which it does with a minimalist yet striking visual style – screens display past projects and the full visual scope of the products are on display there.

Angus says: “It’s aimed at allowing clients and project partners the scope to spark imagination and as an inspirational setting for us to have meaningful conversations. You need a space to thrash things out.”

And the the two metre tall bespoke-design post tensioned staircase taking shape on a steel frame jig at the side of the new building is the evidence of that ambition, showing the company’s intent to innovate, challenge and be forward thinking.

Elaborate stone staircases have become a major feature of top-of-the-range residencies in recent years – and many properties in Oxfordshire, London and the Home Counties, where AF Jones works, are certainly top of the range.

At first, most staircases were cantilevered into the walls of properties, but lately, threading steel through the stone and tensioning it has allowed even greater versatility of design and visual impact.

Angus says: “Forward thinking design, making partnerships and not losing sight of quality are key to our success.”

Looking forward

With challenging work comes the need for the company’s staff to challenge how things have typically been done, and Megan is an important part of that way of thinking.

Family firm it may be, but Megan had to establish her own skills and commercial credibility among an already strong family presence. She says it had always been made clear that nobody could simply join the firm because they were part of the family. They had to go out into the world and bring what they learnt back into the business.

As the new Business Manager at AF Jones, Megan brings with her experience and understanding of best practice manufacturing processes, business development, as well as marketing gained from working in the fast-moving consumer goods field and an MBA from the London School of Economics (LSE).

And with stonemasonry ever-present in her background, Megan is also keenly aware of the values and ambitions of the company, as well as its long background and sense of history. “We’re creating legacies,” she says. “That was a key factor why I wanted to work here. What we do here is just beautiful. It is appreciated by us, and will be appreciated for generations to come. But we’re a hidden gem. It’s pushing open that door to get better known.”

As well as her father, Angus, Angus’s brother, Ken Jones, works at the company, joining after 17 years with Buro Happold Engineering in 2015. Ken’s skills as an engineer fit well with AF Jones, and now Angus and Ken believe Megan’s skills bring the business on another step.

Angus: “Being a modern family business brings many positives, especially when it comes to the integrity and values we want to carry forward with us. However, it does not define us. Our team and our combined vision and ambition for crafting challenging, difficult and interesting work is what drives us.”

The philosophy spans heritage, masonry and interiors, and Megan says identifying these three sectors as specialities within the business is a new departure for AF Jones. They have even created two separate websites in recognition of the different customer base they are aiming to reach.

“Today’s world is totally different to what it was,” says Megan. “If you want a staircase you’re Googling ‘staircase’, not ‘stonemasons’. We are stonemasons, but we are also specialists in these three sub-sectors and we want to communicate this effectively.”

The people

At the heart of the business are the 38 people who work there. Some of those at Ipsden and on-site have been there since they were apprentices. As Angus says: “Apprentices we had when I joined my dad in the business in 1993 are now running the factory. Training is the lifeblood of the industry.”

He says looking after the staff is important because: “They make up our DNA. People want to work for a company where everyone’s valued, where they know they have a future. And they are the people who will pass on centuries of stonemasonry skills to the next generation.”

Megan adds: “I’m 100% an advocate of developing people within the firm. It’s better to develop your own people within your own culture. We work hard but there’s a real team focus and support for each other and being proud of what we achieve.”

Everyone at AF Jones gets together on a Friday once a month so they all know each other, whatever department they work in. “It’s communication. If people get on it solves half the problems,” says Megan.

She also gives the example of Libby Button, who started with the company as a yard manager but wanted to learn to operate a CNC and get involved with the growing interiors side, which she is currently doing.

Ecologically sound

Another advantage stone has and can benefit from promoting is its low environmental impact.

Megan: “Sustainability is incredibly important to us. We have to take responsibility for our future generations just as we do to make sure our stone lasts just as long. It’s also important to our clients. They’re our partners to success and they want sustainability.”

The next move in that direction will be solar panels on the workshop roofs and possibly a fleet of electric vehicles, especially for going into London and other city centres with diesel bans and pollution charges. A charge point has already been installed at the AF Jones premises.

Workshop investment

AF Jones has invested in the workshop as well as the showroom, increasing production capacity fourfold.

The company already owns land adjacent to the site and has plans to extend the factory by a further 350m2. Planning permission has been obtained and the intention is to open the new area of the factory next year, increasing the space for interiors and freeing up more room for the architectural stonework side.

The company is making the investment based on better information than it has ever had before, thanks to the customer relationship management (CRM) system it installed in September 2021.

Angus: “Ken, Megan and our team are bringing us into the 21st century, and part of that is having some proper reporting instead of my gut feeling.”

As well as having the CRM software, the four GMM saws in the factory, two Omag CNCs and an Intermac, and a new GraniRoc wire saw are all linked and run by Alphacam software reporting back to the office. “The Saw Shop Production Office is like being on a ship with everything connected to the bridge,” says Angus.

Having all the information the software provides at his fingertips is helping him feel confident about the future. “We have a great working environment and we are very proud of that. The investment in technology and people, built on a great culture, means we are well set for the future.”

afjones.co.uk

It was good to get back to the face-to-face contact of the NAMM Tradex memorial masonry exhibition last week as the shadow of Covid lifts.

The exhibition had been scheduled for 2021, but with Covid restrictions still impacting the world last year the National Association of Memorial Masons (NAMM), which runs the exhibition, in agreement with exhibitors, decided to postpone the exhibition to 15-16 September this year.

As it turned out, that happened to fall just ahead of the extra bank holiday for The Queen’s funeral, which possibly dissuaded some people from visiting Warwickshire Event Centre for Tradex last week.

The memorial masonry sector of the stone industry is small, with only about 1,000 retail outlets across the country, some of them run by funeral directors, so it is never going to be a huge show. There were 27 exhibitors this time – compared with 23 in 2019 when the wholesalers did not attend – and several hundred visitors (the number was still to be confirmed at the time of writing). Both exhibitors and visitors generally professed satisfaction during the event.

The exhibitors included newcomers and regulars. In the case of Matt Bridges' electric sack trucks, they could have been in both categories, because while Matt was back with the trucks that he designed with his company MGB Easy Handling, he has now sold the company to Armorgard and is working for Armorgard as part of its research and development team.

Armorgard makes site safety and handling equipment and Matt Bridges' electric trucks take it into powered equipment for the first time. It sells its products through distributors and the Easy Handling sack trucks are now being sold by Combined Masonry Supplies, which Armorgard shared a stand with at Tradex. 

There was an unusually high number of people (more than 100) who had registered to attend the exhibition and did not turn up. The extra deaths since the start of the pandemic have meant the memorial masonry sector is busy, which probably contributed to some memorial masons not making it to Warwickshire.

And it looks as if they are going to stay busy for some time yet. Deaths in 2020 were about 15% above the pre-pandemic five-year average. It could have been more with the big spike at the beginning of the year, but it was followed by fewer deaths than normal, probably because the pandemic had killed off some of those who would otherwise have died in the following months.

In 2021 the number of deaths was still 10% above the five-year pre-pandemic average. The Office for National Statistics has now changed the five-year average to include 2021 deaths, but is not including the 2020 figure. From 2 April to 12 August, the number of deaths this year compared with the new five-year average again showed an increase, this time of nearly 11%.

About half the extra deaths mentioned Covid on the death certificates. Those that didn’t have led to speculation about the cause: slower response time by ambulances; longer waits for cancer screening; the difficulty of getting GP appointments; a natural increase due to the ageing population (the death rate of over 85-year-olds was 8.5% above the five-year average).

Whatever the reason, it has increased the workload of the death care industry in general, and some masons might have been too busy to take time out to visit the exhibition, especially with a bank holiday for The Queen's funeral shortening the following week.

Nevertheless, spirits were generally high during the exhibition and as exhibitors packed up to leave many said they were content with the level of business transacted during the two days.

Because the memorial wholesalers have been so busy, the number of new memorials and catalogues on show was limited, with the suppliers struggling just to meet demand for their existing collections. Consequently, the wholesalers’ stands were generally smaller than they have sometimes been in the past.

Odlings decided, in the absence of new memorials, to have a cocktail bar to attract visitors to its stand, with flair mixologist Steve juggling bottles and glasses before serving the drinks (you can see him in action on the video at the bottom of this page).

Odlings showed examples of the outstanding sandblasting and painting skills of its artists, with one of them, Sandra Davison, giving a demonstration of painting granite on the stand. At the front of the stand there was a picture of The Queen, made up of 20 individual pieces of granite, each etched and painted by a separate artist employed by Odlings.

Newly promoted general manager Chris Kemp said the piece had been produced for The Queen’s 70th Jubilee, and Odlings had even considered not bringing it to Tradex after The Queen died. Fortunately, it was brought and visitors considered it a fitting tribute to the late monarch.

Odlings was also showing its first range of ceramic photo plaques and decorative stone and glass chippings that it has introduced to its product ranges.

Another part of the same group as Odlings is the equipment supplier Odlings MCR, which was back again showing the blast cabinets it makes – and warning that this would be the last time they would be on sale at their pre-pandemic prices because of the enormous increases in the price of steel and components used to make the cabinets.

Odlings MCR was also showing a full range of compressors, including, for the first time, screw compressors that are much quieter and keep the moisture out of the blast material, so you don’t have to spend hours cleaning the equipment.

New memorial designs were on show on some of the wholesalers’ stands. CJ Imports, for example, with its own Premium Khammam Ebony Black quarry and factory in India, had created new designs specifically for the exhibition. Pradeep Gupta said having its own quarry and works had enabled CJ to maintain supplies during the pandemic while others had struggled. He said during one week in June the company had hit a new record of importing 14 containers of memorials.

Robertson Memorials was showing its latest designs, including one in Scottish granite, and Frank England also had new designs on display that will be among those that appear in the next edition of its catalogue, although there will also be others not yet made and the catalogue will not be printed until they are. Barham Stone was celebrating its 25th anniversary and Willcox Granite was auctioning the six memorials it was showing in order to raise money for Ukraine and raised £2,650.

As well as memorials, Frank England was showing, for the first time at Tradex, the dust free Abra sandblasting equipment from Poland that it now sells in the UK. The machines were being demonstrated on the stand by Magdlena Czekaj and Thomasz Wilczko from Abra. As well as workshop sandblasters, there are machines for adding an inscription in situ, which are all dust free and compact thanks to the recirculating aluminium oxide blast medium. Abra also makes an impact etcher.

The Blast Shop had its own version of an impact etcher on its stand, which it had not expected to be showing. Ahead of the exhibition MD Rob Critchley said he could not get the machines because they are made in Ukraine and supply had been disrupted by the invasion by Russia. However, supply had resumed just ahead of the show’s opening and one of the etchers was on show.

The Blast Shop had also been concerned it might not receive what Rob described as a “cool  new lifting device” from Germany in time to include on its stand at Tradex. But it, too, arrived in the nick of time and Rob was able to demonstrate the adjustable lifting tripod that makes positioning the stone so much easier (you can see him and it in the video at the bottom of this page).

The Blast Shop also showed a new size for applying gold leaf that can be used anywhere from 25 minutes after application until as much as 15 hours later. And it showed the latest updates to its Memorial Design software.

There was more software from Memorial Works by Indigo 21, SNA Software Systems and Wissen UK.

SNA systems have been used by memorial masons for many years, but Indigo 21 and Wissen were exhibiting for the first time and both said they had a good time at the show.

Jeff Green, who runs Indigo 21, has set up Memorial Works to offer masons a range of products to help with customer relationship management and the design and production of memorials. He says his father was a lettercutter and he grew up around the memorial trade. “The stone trade has always been my passion and it’s great fun working with memorial masons,” he told Natural Stone Specialist.

He and the graphic designers he works with produce unique designs for memorials. All the work is completed in the cloud and Memorial Works can accommodate whatever software the memorial mason uses, such as MasonART or Illustrator.

Kevin Wallace from Wissen was introducing StoneMaker, a memorial design and stencil cutting system, including Graftex plotters if required. He said Tradex was the first show he had been to where visitors had wanted to buy and pay for the system at the exhibition itself.

There’s more from the show with the pictures below and you can go to the NAMM website by clicking here.

 

David Coster, Director of Advanced Stone & Masonry Supplies, which sells Stain Proof and Tenax products, talks to Robert Jay, who has set himself up as R J Stone Consultancy, having previously been a Director of Prima Marble & Granite in north London.

David Coster: Quartz, sintered/porcelain or natural stone?

Robert Jay: Categorically, being brought up in the industry in the ’80s, natural materials for myself. We had materials like Kinawa Rose back in the ’80s for kitchen worktops and flooring. But from a business point of view and knowing what the material size and cost will be before you start a job, you can’t beat man-made materials. For volume production it’s going to be man-made. My preference is for something more bespoke, but the expectations of clients are too great for natural materials. If those expectations can be managed and are more realistic, I think there’s a market to be had there.

David Coster: Straight off the CNC or hand finished?

Robert Jay: Off the CNC. After being brought up in a factory where we had 25 blokes on benches with angle grinders and seeing all the machines available today there’s no need to try to finish by hand. The technological advancements over the past 20 years… you can’t beat it.

Physical templating or digital?

The majority of templating now is digital, although a couple of guys are still more comfortable with Correx.

In the residential, end user market, Correx makes sense because Mrs Smith wanting a set of worktops including a breakfast bar with an overhang can see a piece of Correx and agree on the size of the overhang, radius ends. It means something. Doing it digitally you can’t get that across to an end user. Signing off something that says a radius size on it, people don’t get it.

But the moment you have any sort of volume and speed is required, you can’t beat digital templating. It’s fairly new for me to say that. Once I would have always been a Correx man. But with Correx you have the issue of physically getting the Correx templates to a factory. If you have a guy who’s onsite at 8-o-clock in the morning and he’s templating until the end of his working day at 4-o-clock, he can do that every day with digital templates, but with Correx he has to pick it up in the morning and take the templates back before the factory can start making something. You have a massive amount of wasted time, effort and money in moving Correx about.

Tell us about the consultancy you have started up now.

My business now is offering a consultancy service on templating, supply and installation of all types of stone and solid worksurfaces to retailers, people I have worked with for many, many years. I’m also offering some of my knowledge and experience on systems and the development of systems for smaller fabricators, who are often stretched and just haven’t got the time or experience to put new systems into place to be scalable.

So many of the fabricators and factories I’m talking to are stuck in that rut where they can’t move forward from where they are.

Nobody has the time, so you offer your services to see if you can save them that time somewhere?

Indeed – save them time, save them money. Putting in new procedures because so many of the people I’m talking to are still working in what we would have called, back in the day, working off the back of a fag packet.

A lot of the people in this industry started by working with their hands. You would happily be the head to go along with those hands?

Yes. My background is purely commercial. I have never been on the tools. I have never been a templater or fitter. I have purely done the business side of it, so I can add that commercial expertise to any small business; to those companies turning over a million to one-and-half-million and run by people who know the business and are still on the tools all day every day. The moment they come off the tools and start looking at what new processes are needed they’re not producing goods and they’re not earning.

What are you looking to work on over the next year or so?

The systems that a small company turning over a million or so can afford to put into place – a fairly easy, straight forward customer relations management system (CRM) that will just manage their quotes and their jobs fairly simplistically, but ensuring the systems are followed and which any member of staff can access – right the way through to putting in much bigger systems that will run a whole company, from the initial CRM and quoting through to final invoicing.

I can offer that now, including all the training and setting up of all the products and prices for stock management. I can take it as far down the line as you need it, through to accounting to ensure every bit of the business is managed. It allows the owners to have a very quick overview of where they’re at without physically having to be sitting in front of spreadsheets all the time.

When it comes to Brexit and Covid, are we out the other side?

I think our industry is. The bigger impact has been to our clients – to kitchen retailers, building contractors and main contractors, with them getting product through so they’re ready for when they need us. We have a shortage of labour in this country. It has hit our industry as well, but has predominantly hit those trades before we are needed.

We are coming to the end of marble quartz, maybe? Where would you want to be as a fabricator?

I would want to be offering more than just worktops. I think one of the big things in our industry is that getting a client is tough; converting an enquiry into a job is tough. So we have to make more of it; come up with a way to get a bigger order number off the same order, whether that’s offering different types of splashbacks, offering sideboards and furniture for the lounge, offering elements within the same job to beef the number up.

People are talking about glass worktops coming back. They say there’s been developments that make the glass stronger, and that might attract some at the top end of the market. In stone, ideally marble with a decent finish to it. Something that’s sustainable, manageable, will live up to clients’ expectations as a kitchen worktop.

And bathrooms?

Absolutely. Two or three of my big clients do kitchens and bathrooms. If someone is doing a refurbishment that involves a kitchen it probably means there are also two or three bathrooms and perhaps a utility or downstairs cloakroom.

It always makes me laugh that as an industry we fight over 5m2 in the kitchen when there’s perhaps 90m2 in the bathrooms in the same house.

I totally agree. Once you have that client on board they’re trusting you because they have placed their biggest order with you. To pick up a few bathrooms that might only be £10,000-£15,000 each, but there might be four or five of them and a downstairs cloakroom, is not so difficult. Tiles, stone worktops, window cills and the rest can increase the value of the job massively, just by making sure we win those other areas.

So you can help fabricators make the most of what they have, saving them time and eventually money?

Making them more profitable, categorically. Enabling them to be scalable. If there’s one big message for smaller companies it’s that they can’t grow if everything’s done in a notebook on a desk somewhere, because that’s not scalable.

A joint initiative between Welsh Slate owner Breedon Group, Network Rail and the Welsh Government has brought the disused freight yard sidings at Llandudno Junction back to life.

The Llandudno Junction freight yard had not been used for many years, but vegetation removal, track repairs and refurbishment of the points that allow trains to move into the sidings have brought it back into service.

The yard is near Welsh Slate's main Penrhyn Quarry. The main purpose of re-opening the freight yard is to make it easier to move up to 260,000 tonnes of Welsh Slate aggregates, ranging from sub-base to decorative aggregate, a year, with trains running weekly.

Typically, the trains will carry 1,500 tonnes of material at a time rather than the 28 tonnes an individual lorry can carry. Using trains will cut CO2 emissions, road traffic and operating costs, making it economically and environmentally viable to transport the aggregates further afield.

Welsh Slate is famous for its roofing slates, but it takes the removal of a lot of slate to produce the roofing slates. Some of the waste has always been sold as aggregate but the new railhead should mean more of it can now be sold. Waste slate tipped down the sides of mountains is a feature of the landscape of Snowdonia, now part of a World Heritage Site.

The first freight train to leave the refurbished railhead was taking the equivalent of 76 lorry-loads of Welsh Slate Hard Grey Type 1 sub-base aggregates to Luton.

Welsh Slate became part of the Breedon Group in 2018, when Breedon bought the previous owner, the Irish Lagan Group (read more about that here).

Breedon, based in Derbyshire, already operates several other railheads around the UK, and this latest investment will further improve its distribution network for customers and lower the carbon footprint of Breedon operations.

The project was supported by the Freight Facilities Grant Scheme, which encourages modal shifts to deliver environmental benefits by removing HGVs from roads.

Andy Roberts, Breedon’s General Manager for the West of England & North Wales, says: “At Breedon, we have a strong commitment to sustainability. We recognise the important practical and environmental benefits of rail freight, so we are pleased that this new facility will allow a greater range of slate materials to be delivered across the UK in a more sustainable manner. We are delighted to have worked with the Welsh Government and our partners to invest in this high-quality freight facility in North Wales.”

John Smith, Chief Executive Officer at GB Railfreight, which is operating the trains, added: “We’re delighted to be transporting slate aggregates from Llandudno Junction. It is encouraging to see the Government and the private sector come together to enable a service that will transport key construction materials, create employment opportunities, and drive local growth. This new service will demonstrate the commercial, environmental and safety benefits of transporting goods by rail freight.”

In addition to road and rail, Welsh Slate also ships slate aggregates by sea to destinations in the UK and Europe from Port Penrhyn in Bangor.

The Stone of Scone (or Stone of Destiny) is to be brought back to Westminster Abbey for the coronation of Charles III.

The stone, a block of coarse-grained, pinkish buff sandstone, was returned to Scotland in 1996, having been taken by England’s King Edward I in 1296 and used for his coronation. It had been used for centuries before that for the coronation of Scottish kings.

In England, it took on a ceremonial role in the coronation throne to become a traditional part of the crowning of British monarchs, including Queen Elizabeth II, who was crowned in 1953 and whose funeral was on 19 September 2022.

It had been built into the coronation throne in Westminster Abbey and stayed there for 700 years (apart from three months in 1950-51 when some Scottish students reclaimed it) until it was permanently returned to Scotland on Scottish patron saint St Andrew’s Day during the 700th anniversary of its removal. Its return to Scotland took place the year before the independence referendum, when the Scots voted to remain part of the United Kingdom. It has been in Edinburgh Castle since then.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES), which manages Edinburgh Castle, has confirmed the stone will be used in King Charles III's coronation. Afterwards it will return to Edinburgh Castle's Crown Room.

HES has always said: "The stone will only leave Scotland again for a coronation in Westminster Abbey."

To explore the stone in extraordinary detail, click here. 

There is more about the cultural significance of stones in Scotland in Beatrice Searle's book Stone Will Answer, published in 2023. To read a review of the book, click here.

 

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is warning companies to act now to protect employees from fatal lung diseases resulting from exposure to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) dust.

It says it will be focusing its inspections in October on companies where RCS could be a problem, which includes stone companies such as worktop fabricators where high silica content materials such as granite, engineered quartz and ceramics are used.

HSE warns that if RCS is breathed in, the particles can cause irreversible lung disease that can be fatal.

Every year, around 12,000 people in Great Britain die from work-related lung diseases linked to past exposure to hazardous substances at work.

These deaths are preventable if exposure to the risks is controlled effectively.    

By breathing it in, you can develop the following lung diseases: 

• Silicosis
  making breathing more difficult and increasing the risk of lung infections. Silicosis usually follows exposure over many years, but extremely high exposures can lead rapidly to ill health
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
  a group of lung diseases, including bronchitis and emphysema, resulting in severe breathlessness, prolonged coughing and chronic disability. It can be very disabling and is a leading cause of death
• Lung cancer
  Heavy and prolonged exposure to RCS dust can cause lung cancer. When someone already has silicosis, there is an increased risk of lung cancer. 

Watch the HSE short video on silicosis, where HSE’s Chief Medical Advisor, Professor David Fishwick, explains more about this disease.

Employers have a legal duty to put in place suitable arrangements to manage health & safety and comply with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002.

In October, HSE inspectors will be checking that companies understand the risks associated with RCS inhalation and have effective controls in place to keep workers safe. 

 HSE has refreshed its silica guidance for stone companies. Click on the links below to download it: 

• Stoneworkers - COSHH direct advice sheets
• Brick and tile silica - COSHH direct advice sheets