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A Novel Model for a Commercial Fabrication Shop and Workforce
CNC operator Elizabeth and Roy Page discuss the morning’s production run. (Photos by Sharon Koehler and courtesy Ellis Page Company)
By Sharon Koehler
Just over three decades ago, Ellis Company LLC opened its doors in Annapolis, Md., as a solid-surface fabrication company. They specialized in trim, walls, and toilet partitions. Since 1992, the company has moved around the Washington D.C. area several times, until they found and purchased the building they are in now in Manassas, Va. According to owner Roy Page, the city was a big help by bringing in 3-phase electrical so the location would work for them.
Mr. Page also commented that over the years, besides their occasional changing of workspaces, and the 2009 name change to Ellis Page Company LLC., the business has evolved into something quite different than what it used to be. They do very little solid surface these days and they have transitioned over to 99.9% commercial work. They generally work on projects of a quarter-million-dollars or more. The only residential projects they work on are the occasional requests from the individuals at the companies they partner with. They are a member of the Natural Stone Institute and ISFA. They also belong to the Facebook groups All Slab Fabbers and Women in Stone. As the company has changed, so has their equipment. They still have their solid-surface equipment for the occasional job. However, the company invests heavily in the technological advances of our industry. Their fabrication shop houses a Marmo Meccanica edge polisher, three CNC machines, and two CNCs are dual table machines. They also run two saws: a Champion 5, and a waterjet saw. The CNCs and the saws are all made by Prussiani of Italy. Four years ago, they contracted with Prussiani to build a prototype CNC. It was the first machine of its kind to be built, designed specifically for them. Two years later, they purchased an identical CNC machine to go with the one they already had. And they are now interested in a newer, more advanced saw.
Each piece of equipment in the shop is served by a crane to easily and safely deliver materials.
There is a crane over every machine to quickly and safely move material on and off the machines – safety is foremost in the shop. One of Roy’s fabrication philosophies is: “Let the machines do the work.” His goal is that when his employees go home at night, their backs feel the same as when they came in.
Read more in the January 2023 issue of the Slippery Rock Gazette.
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Countertop Shop Marketing Tips from What We’ve Learned in 2022
By Steven Alberts Countertop Marketing Company
In my December 2022 Slippery Rock article, I spoke about non-traditional ways to grow your countertop shop in 2023. Some of them were focusing on voice search in Google, producing video content, getting uncomfortable, and also going above and beyond with reviews. I truly believe in when marketing your shop, if you put the effort in and do things just a little bit differently from the competition you will see great results. The problem is that you need a solid foundation. Your shop needs the basics and you shouldn’t be focusing on Google voice search results if your website looks like it’s from 1996! So in this article, I’m going to break down what you need in 2023 and what we’ve learned in 2022. We work with dozens of fabricators and we love looking at the data to develop ideas on how to improve our client’s campaigns. Your Website and Material What we’ve learned in 2022 is that people want to look at material on your website. I sound like a broken record with this statement but it’s not what I believe, it’s what the data tells us. We have data from all of our client’s websites on what people visiting their sites are doing online. And every time that we build out a gallery of material on a client’s site, we find that people visiting their site spend a lot of time on those pages. The accompanying screenshot explains it all.
The / in the left column represents a homepage, and most likely your homepage is the most visited page on your website. But the next pages are some material pages, and you can see people are spending 2X the amount of time on those pages! What does that mean? It means that they are looking through material pictures and investing more time on your website. Now, what if you don’t have material on your site? They will hit that back button and jump over to a competitor. What we learned in 2022: People want to look at material. Invest in a decent website and show material you have on your website for visitors to look at online. It doesn’t have to be everything you have in stock, you want to give them ideas so they call you, and then you have your sales reps lead them down the path of figuring out the best product for their project.
Read more in the February 2023 issue of the Slippery Rock Gazette.
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Uncovering the Hidden Stories within Natural Stone
by Peter Marcucci
As if the sublime beauty of natural stone wasn’t enough to satisfy the most-demanding stone aficionados wanting something unique, the folks at ALMA Art Studio have kicked it up a notch by adding their own unique twist, creating cutting edge, one-off artworks. Launched in 2021 by Director Jay Zelingold, ALMA Art Studio is located in the greater New York area, an ideal location to serve a concentrated market of high-end clientele, design-industry professionals and art enthusiasts. “From private collectors to commercial projects, this is an opportune market area to be in,” Zelingold. Explained. “We are very fortunate to be here.” So now you’re wondering, “What is this cutting-edge art?’” ALMA Art Studio takes selected areas of stone slabs, and mixes it with lit images to create endlessly fascinating works of art in all sizes. “It is the best of man and nature, and I would describe it as Fine Stone™,” Zelingold said. “That name very deeply encapsulates the work that we do. Stone is beautiful, luxurious, exotic, communicative and chaotic, and the reasons why people choose natural stone in their home projects. “It’s unique and incredible the amount of beauty from the earth itself, and we take something that is already luxurious, and make it even more unique and exotic by finding the sense and the story and the passion within the chaos.
Coming in the February 2023 issue of the Slippery Rock Gazette
Decisions, Decisions
Understand How Your Business Makes Money
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Publisher’s Corner
By Rick Stimac, BB Industries President/CEO
By the time you read this issue of the Slippery Rock Bulletin, TISE 2023 will likely be in the history books. Thanks to everyone who visited the BBI booth or celebrated the successes of the past year at our 3rd Annual Partners Party at the House of Blues – on track to be our most widely-attended bash to date! We appreciate your comments on our new catalog and booth theme this year: Stone is in our DNA. To our old friends and newly-met colleagues at the show: may you all see success in 2023, and may it be the best year yet for you, your shop, and your family. It is heartening to see the leaps in technology and innovation the stone industry has experienced in the past 5 years. I’m always excited to hear how our business partners are using BBI’s products and the articles in the Slippery Rock to help improve their fabrication practices and expand their productivity, to improve their safety in the shop, and increase their bottom line with sound business practices.
As ever, our goal is to provide the best products, the highest service levels, and the best advice and current news to the stone industry. The Slippery Rock has already started the year bringing new writers and contributors to our readers, and BBI has geared up with new distribution points in Utah and the West Coast to be able to offer a same-day shipping commitment to the entire US. Read the full articles presented here in the January and upcoming February online or print editions of the Slippery Rock Gazette.
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