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Back from the Brink: Stone World TN
Recognizable bits of the Stone World TN shop can be seen amidst the wreckage, including their Water Treatment Technology system, A-Frame racks and fab tables, some still loaded with material. Elsewhere on the grounds, heavy granite slabs were toppled like dominos and tossed through the air. (Photos courtesy Stone World TN)
By Peter Marcucci
It is sometimes mind-boggling, that in the blink of an eye, all our careful plans can be altered, and the course of a person’s life can change. We see these tragedies play out in the media every day, shake our heads in astonishment, and then move on, hoping that the unexpected never catches up with us. Case in point is Stone World TN, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Purchased by Duan Coqui in 2011, Stone World TN was a medium-sized, thriving shop doing mostly big-box and residential work. Sadly, the twist of fate that befell him out of the clear blue sky was an EF-4 tornado on March 3, 2019 – a tragedy that will never be forgotten, recalled Coqui. "I had gone home that night. Everything at the shop was running right. That morning, like every morning, I watched the news to see how the traffic is doing. I knew there had been a tornado, and when I saw the news chopper flying above my shop showing the destruction, I said, ‘Oh, my! That’s my building!’ "Funny, you think you’re on top of the world, and the next morning you wake up and there is nothing. Luckily, nobody was there in the shop that night." When the dust had settled, it was clear that the tornado had flattened the whole building. It had picked up a 20'container full of sinks, as well as semi-trucks from up the road, and thrown them into the building. Coqui truly had nothing left.
“It was scary! You know, when you see devastation on television, you’ve never really experienced it until you’re standing there and you see it right in front of you. My building looked like spaghetti. Then, the first thoughts that go through your head are, ‘What should I do now? Where do I start?’ It was total devastation, and you’re really helpless until you sit down and start figuring things out.” It was with an abundance of personal and professional pride, at this point, that failure for Coqui was not an option, and moving forward was the only option.
Read more in the March 2022 issue of the Slippery Rock Gazette.
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Google Reviews are a Fabricator’s Word-of-Mouth Reputation
By Stephen Albert
Your countertop company gets probably most of its retail countertop projects from: 1. Word-of-mouth leads 2. Referrals from contractors 3. Website and social media. Most fabricators we talk to get most of their retail jobs from number 1 and number 2. Some say they get projects from their website and social media, but they aren’t sure. Most countertop companies I speak with don’t track their online leads, so it’s tough for them to tell where they are coming from. In the online world, Google maps acts like a countertop company’s “word-of-mouth.” Think about it. When you get a WOM lead it’s someone who mentioned you to their friend/family and then you get the job. If I’m online looking for a countertop company and I read reviews on Google, I’m essentially using those reviews like referrals. The only difference is I don’t know the person leaving the review. But it doesn’t matter! And the numbers below explain why: • 84% read online reviews for service-area businesses and tradespersons. • 81% of people use Google to evaluate a local business. • 55% of people care if the owner responded to the review. The first two stats don’t surprise me, but the last one should matter to you! I always tell our clients that whether they get a Good or Bad review on Google, respond to it. And since 55% percent of people look at that, it’s super-important that you respond to a review. I’m going to go over some simple steps you can follow to get more Google reviews, and I’ll give you a few tips you can follow.
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Maximizing Potential with ActionFlow
ActionFlow facilitates communication within the entire shop by managing and streamlining production. It can create a schedule of jobs ready to be installed and confirmed with the customer, among other valuable features. The custom dashboard scheduler carries a lot of information, including personnel, outlined projects and responsibilities, and the timeline to complete installation
By Peter Marcucci
There was a common narrative that came from the stone countertop shops the Slippery Rock interviewed in 2021. Most admitted they had a phenomenally good year in the residential market. Many concluded that sales of natural stone for both indoors and out was primarily due to their clients spending lots more time in their homes, over the last few years. It’s logical to presume, with COVID variants still on the loose, that 2022 will be about the same, with folks staying close to home. If your company has also experienced this phenomenon, you may be thinking about where to invest your hard-earned bucks for the most return this year. Maybe it’s a container of the trendiest exotics or the latest robotics. How about a facelift of that same-ole, same-ole showroom to up your game and hold your clients’ attention? These are all great options, but have you looked closely at how well your current system flows from sales to installation? Where are the bottlenecks – and every company has them – and will these bottlenecks get worse with higher production, causing frustration to team members and clients? It was with these considerations in mind that the folks at ActionFlow created an app that has your back.
Read more in the March 2022 issue of the Slippery Rock Gazette.
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BB Industries Launches Game-Changing Inline Tooling and CNC Support
By Rick Stimac, BB Industries President/CEO
BB Industries’ (BBI) quickly growing Tech Support program expands upon its CNC support to include inline tooling. The team includes industry veterans Peter Hauser, Director of CNC and Technical Services; Jerry Herring, CNC Tech Support; Josh Hart, CNC Tech Support and Ken Bloom, Inline and CNC Tech Support. Here’s what Alex Camarre, Operations Manager at Buffalo Granite & Marble in North Tonawanda, N.Y. had to say about the BB Industries’ CNC Support Service: “The support we’ve received from Peter Hauser has been unbelievable. Most other companies make you pay for the knowledge of their technicians, and they will set you up just enough to get you started.
“BBI and Peter’s support really aims to maximize the efficiency of the equipment you already have. It is incomparable to any other service our company has received. We have seen improvements up to 50% on our INTERMAC CNC run time. On top of that, we are now able to take most of our pieces off the machine without further hand-polishing needed.” "Having the ability to speak to people with experience like Pete and Jerry on the BB Industries CNC support team has definitely made things easier for me and our Konkus Marble CNC team,” said Konkus Marble’s CNC department manager.
“Their guidance has helped us to run our machines faster, increase our production, and our CNC tooling life has drastically improved. We have also been able to run quartzite with no issues, which is a significant improvement for us. “It has been wonderful to be able to not stress or worry because I know that the BBI team makes themselves available when we have issues, and they are only a text away. They are there for us like an extension of our department, and they help us get the job done.”
As BB Industries continues to grow strategically, we are making significant investments to bring in industry experts to expand technical training and installation for our customer partners. Our focus is developing and enhancing industry-leading products and services that solve customer issues. We are not aware of any other tool vendor who is providing this level of tech services to its customers. We know our experience can bridge the gap on training for inline tooling by working with manufacturers and fabricators.
4100 Appalachian Way Knoxville, TN 37918
Hours of Operation: Monday - Friday 7:30AM - 6:00PM (Eastern Time)