All:
Day three and I’m figuring this report won’t be complete if I don’t haul out early enough to hear Mark Lauzon’s 7:45 a.m. presentation, “The Digital Difference.” The day before, Mark expressed concern that the early hour would affect attendance negatively. Fortunately, this is one time where Mark was wrong. I counted forty heads, including mine.
Despite my best efforts, I toddle in the door fashionably late by minutes, but no one seems to mind. It is immediately apparent that Mark is a gifted speaker. He has that John-Madden-beer-with-the-guys demeanor. Very gregarious and animated and his sense of humor made me laugh out loud. All this is meaningless if the speaker doesn’t know his stuff, which is obviously not the case here.
According to Mark, if you think you’re going to need fewer guys when you get a CNC machine, you are mistaken. You will need less in production, but due to the increase in productivity, you’ll need more installers and salespeople to keep up with and drive capacity.
He asked excellent questions such as: How many employees do you have? What is your volume? What type of kitchens do you do predominantly? Do you control your shop? He told of an employee who destroyed a top by mistakenly pressing the release lever on a vacuum-held top that was being loaded for delivery. Due to the repeatability of the CNC, he was able to have the replacement top on the job by 1:00 in the afternoon without missing a beat.
When shopping for a CNC, make the salesman talk about HIS machine, not the competition and check the structure and engineering of the machine. A quieter machine has less vibration. Do some internet research on problems and advantages of the machine you are considering, but remember, it is highly unlikely that a guy is going to announce to the world that he’s made a quarter-million dollar mistake.
According to Mark, “Set-up time kills you.” Consider a dual-table machine to relive this problem. Mark candidly admitted he made this mistake when he bought his water-jet saw. (Make him an offer, he seems to really want a do-over on that decision.)
Regarding manufacturer training, “You get the training after you write the check. (Due to the difficulty of the training) I thought I would be feeding my kids cheese nips for the next ten years.”
Make sure the manufacturer has replacement parts IN STOCK and stateside. Getting a part from the other side of the world can be a two-day job even in this era of next-day air. When you’re down, two days is an eternity.
Does it matter who broke the machine when it comes to warranty coverage? Who’s to say their inept training didn’t cause you to run that 3cm bullnose bit into that 6cm edge? Mark says that’s a very exciting sight.
According to Mark:
When it comes to tool changers, more is better.
Have and keep some local friends (competitors) in the business, it will pay off mutually.
2cm with edge lamination is going out, 3cm will dominate.
Don’t be afraid of the learning curve.
Buy Job Tracking software before you need it and get that learning curve out of the way early.
Purchase of a sawjet will increase your CNC productivity25-30% which makes the sawjet payment.
After you’ve written that big check, be prepared for additional expenses. Space, water (lots and lots, no garden hose here), air, air dryer, shipping and rigging, tools, pods, etc…
My biggest complaint was that the room had an echo, making it very difficult to understand the questions that were asked at the end of the session. Speakers, be sure to repeat the questions asked before answering.
Do not miss this guy. Even if his next conference is titled “Mark Reads the Residential Vegas Phone Book Aloud”, I’ll be there.
Kowboy
Hot! New Stone Trends- Review
One cannot get an accurate assessment of the Conferences at StoneExpo by reviewing one only, so I found myself listening to Ms. Kathleen Fought, a designer for UGMC Stone Company reading from a prepared script while clicking pictures on the screen. Considering I’d just come from Mark Lauzon’s masterpiece, this was a bit disappointing. She became more comfortable quickly and the more extemporaneously she spoke, the nicer her presentation became.
There were forty-eight of us in attendance and this room full of stoners soon learned that the fashion industry influences the stone industry. Yeah, the Vogue magazine, too-skinny-chick fashion industry. She made her point with some 2005 pics showing how the fashion industry announced the Pantone Colors of the year and the subsequent compliance of Silestone.
I immediately noticed the incongruence of her mentioning Silestone with the National Stone Council and the Marble Institute of America’s logos at the top of her screen! She quickly reconciled this difference by announcing that resinated Oynx is the natural stone answer for colors.
I don’t think she realized she traded one incongruence for another. Why is it O.K. for the NSC and the MIA to endorse the plasticization of stone through resination, yet when Silestone crushes quartz and resinates it, it is suddenly not “natural”? Can someone explain this to me?
Tim Weatherton, Sales Manager for UGMC, showed some slides of his recent trip to the Mecca of the stone world, the Verona Stone Fair in Verona, Italy. They’ve got a football-field-sized state-of-the-art stone slab showroom over there. According to Tim, classic marbles are coming back in style.
You maybe asking yourself, “What the hell does the 2007 Pantone colors of Chili Pepper, Cashmere Brown and Burnt Ochre have to do with me?” I’ll tell you.
I’m in a book group at my library. We are assigned a book every month, we read it and discuss it and the cycle repeats. I like it because it gets me to read things I wouldn’t usually select for myself. Attending a Hot New Stone Trends conference expands your horizons too. Although you may not see any immediate benefit, you may make some wiser inventory decisions.
Kowboy
Kevin M Padden (L), Art Attaway (C)) and Tom McNall (R)
Wade (L), Clayton (C) and Chad (R)
Steve "Doogie" Hauser
Brian Biggs (L) and Matt Lansing
L-R, Jeff Leun, Guy Robertson, Donnie Taylor and Chad from Integra
Linear Mode
