Author: Emerson Schwartzkopf

Technology

The 2.5-Minute Monument

When the topic is continuous-flow production in the stone industry, it’s about moving more kitchens through a shop – not monuments.
And, putting automation and sandblasting in the same workflow doesn’t even sound possible, let alone efficient.
It’s a challenge taken on by Friedrich Goldmann GmbH & Co. KG of Mannheim, Germany, with a monument production shop. The longtime sandblasting-products manufacturer not only made the process work – it also brought speed into the equation.

Spall

Pocket Protection

By Emerson Schwartzkopf

Let’s get something straight at the start: I like computers. And I like all sorts of computer-related gadgets, although I’ve resisted the temptation to plug a coffee-cup warmer into some spare socket of my office desktop machine.
I’m also a firm believer in the one-step-behind philosophy in the world of electronics: Instead of buying cutting-edge stuff, I pick up devices once they’re no longer the hot item on the market. My digital camera doesn’t record the maximum number of megapixels, and the cell phones I tote don’t have a camera or play music and videos.
It’s not that I’m cautious. I’m cheap. But I still recognize the value in saving something very precious: my time.

Clean Perspective

Speaking the Customer’s Language (March 2007)

By Tom McNall

How many times have you seen the tourist asking a local, “Where is the hotel?” And, when the visitor doesn’t get a response or only a shrug from the local, they try to communicate better……by asking, louder and slower, “WHERE IS THE HOTEL?”
In today’s global economy, we need to be able to communicate better. But this article is not going to deal with Spanish, Italian or Mandarin. Let’s look at a different type of language spoken right here in North America (and all over the world for that matter) that, far too often, seems foreign to many.

The Installer

Grow With The Flow

By Jason Nottestad Creating beautiful kitchen and bath countertops out of stone that has a definite grain, or flow, is both simple and difficult at the same time. Jason NottestadThe simple part is the...

Spall

Lesson Plan

By Emerson Schwartzkopf

  In every publication, there’s always one regular item that makes its enemies among the staff. It’s tedious to write, always runs long and becomes a bear to fit in the layout.

JobSight

Cold Climate Housing Research, Fairbanks, Ak.

By K. Schipper

  Client/Designer/Contractor: Cold Climate Housing Research Center. Fairbanks, Alaska
  Masonry Heater Designer: Solutions to Healthy Breathing, Fairbanks, Alaska
  Masonry Heater Installer: Stone Castle Masonry, Fairbanks, Alaska
  Stone Fabricator/Installer: Alaskan Granite, Fairbanks, Alaska
 
  FAIRBANKS, Alaska – Most of the time when a building client talks about serving as designer and contractor, people in the trades shake their heads and walk away.
  The Cold Climate Housing Research Center (CCHRC) and its Research and Testing Facility (RTF), though, is anything but a normal project.

Company Press

Comandulli, Fratelli Bisso Merge

  CASTELLEONE, Italy – Comandulli Costruzione Meccaniche S.r.l., a leading constructor of edge polishing machines, merged with milling-machine manufactuer Fratelli Bisso S.r.l of Ferrada di Moconesi, Italy, in December.

Company Press

People: March 2007

  • Alpha Professional Tools® adds Don Ferko to represent its Ohio Valley Territory of Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia, along with the western regions of New York and Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the Oakland, N.J.-based company, Ferko holds 14 years of experience working with tile, marble and granite, and is a third-generation tile setter and marble mason.