Company Notes – February 2007

• Aro Granites Industry Ltd., Hosur, India, recently purchased four ARCO DI TRIONFO M594 cutting centres from Pedrini S.p.A. of Carobbio degli Angeli, Italy; the new machines feature an additional productive potential that can range from 1600 m² (17, 222 ft²)to 2000 m² (21,527 ft²)of semi-finished products per day, depending on the block quality and granite hardness class. The company has been equipped with Pedrini technology for a long time in its factories, including several frame saws, three Pedrini slab polishing lines, a quartet of four-column block cutters and two tile-polishing lines
• Artisan Manufacturing Corp. formed a strategic partnership with Boston Granite Exchange of Haverill, Mass.; Boston Granite Exchange will carry New York-based Artisan’s complete line of stainless-steel sinks.
• The Club Cambria Executive Suite Level recently opened at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. The upgrade to the suite level was developed in partnership with Le Sueur, Minn.-based Cambria; the quartz-surface producer also recently opened two additional Club Cambrias at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee and the TD Waterhouse Centre in Orlando, Fla.
• BuildDirect became the exclusive wholesale supplier of all Mekmer Marble products worldwide in early December 2006. The new relationship allows Mekmer, headquartered in Denizli, Turkey, to focus its efforts on production; Vancouver B.C.-based BuildDirect, an online wholesaler, handles all sales, distribution, shipping and customer service.
• National Gypsum Co. will be Bonsal American’s new supplier for cement backer board, an important component as a substrate for tile on walls, floors and countertops, with National’s PermaBase® brand Cement Board. Both Bonsal American, a division of Oldcastle APG, and National Gypsum are based in Charlotte, N.C.
• Peninsula Building Materials, a Mountain View, Calif.-based supplier of natural stone, brick, architectural and fabricated materials, officially opened its new showroom on Jan. 12. The 8,500 ft² facility was designed by Gensler, a worldwide design and consulting firm based in San Francisco.
• More than 6,500 architects and designers attended the series of Natural Stone Solutions seminars held in 37 U.S. and Canadian cities in 2006. The seminars, produced by Seminar Systems Inc., included presentations by The Tile Council of North America Inc., Dal-Tile Corp., LATICRETE® International Inc., Schluter Systems and DuPont/Stonetech Professional.
• Parksite Surfaces is the exclusive distributor of the Soterra™ Natural Stone Surfacing System for Florida. Parksite Surfaces, a division of Batavia, Ill.-based The Parksite Group, will handle the 8mm thinstone panels offered by Surfacing Products International in Alpharetta, Ga.