Follow Up: Winning Through Hard Times

In mid-2010, Motyl had the opportunity to pick up the facilities of Innovative Stone in Syracuse when that company’s corporate parent went through Chapter 11 reorganization. The purchase gave him a 40,000 ft² space with 40’ ceilings and an overhead crane system in a portion of an old General Motors plant.

Click photo to enlarge“Over the last year we’ve moved all our stone business to the new facility – and some of our equipment – and we’ve added on some other equipment,” he says. “We’ve added a conveyor belt, a Breton saw with a huge amount of capacity, a new Breton double-table CNC and a Park (Industries) Titan®, so we’ve upgrade our equipment considerably.”

Still another upgrade Motyl oversaw is the transition to a totally digital shop. He says when he arrived the templates were being done electronically, but then being cut in vinyl.

“That’s one of the things that has made our growth possible,” he says. “There was a time when we were filling a dumpster every week with used vinyl templates. Now, we’ve got much less waste in the process, and everything happens much faster; from an environmental standpoint it has to be the way to go.”

The new facility meant other changes for the company, as well. By freeing up the Cortland space for offices and solid-surface production, sales of that material also grew, and now represent about a third of Stone Central’s countertop output.

Stone Central is now up to about 60 employees producing approximately 20 kitchens a day in one shift with about half that output being sold through the big-box stores.

“In our new facility, we can move material around with a nice flow through the shop,” Motyl says. “And, we actually have room to expand our volume. We’re working very hard to increase volume as we go forward.”

Flow is important to Motyl, who believes in the end it will help Stone Central turn out not just more product, but also a better product.

“The best fabricators I know have worked very hard to get their systems right,” he states. “We have the skills in installation, we have the skills in fabrication, and we have the people who can train other people in those skills. But we need to further improve our systems so we can be better all around and serve more customers.”

He adds that he sees high-end countertops as still being a growth industry; Motyl is confident that, by being competitive both in quality and in price, the company will grow – and grow significantly – in the next few years.

Perhaps indicative of just how far he thinks the company has come is the name change to Stone Central, which he says is still in process.

“I thought about changing the name when we took over the business, but I wanted to wait until the business had changed,” Motyl concludes. “The name should reflect the business, so we’ve been waiting and working very hard from a quality and service standpoint so the name is always associated with good things.”

Read the original Stone People profile of Wilbedone Inc. (June 2005)

BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

MINNETONKA, Minn. – Alan Dale is finding that tough times can be the environment to grow and reshape a business into profitability.

The owner of Dale Tile and Minnesota Tile and Stone wasn’t even in the market for a business expansion when he was first approached to buy Minneapolis-based Pollux Manufacturing Inc. in 2009.

Dale was already familiar with the countertop industry. Since the mid-1980s, Minnesota Tile and Stone has had a small custom fabrication shop that relies on skilled artisans, a Park Pro Edge and a bridge saw to turn out high-end residential work. He also knew of Pollux.

“Six or seven years ago, Pollux hired away my shop manager,” Dale says.

Several of the people on the Minnesota Tile and Stone team kept in touch with their departed boss, visiting the highly mechanized Pollux facility and urging Dale to do the same. Finally, he did.

“I went down with one of my lead installers and walked through the shop,” he says. “I saw the operation and thought it was nice and left. The next day, I got a call from the owner of Pollux; he said, ‘Are you interested in buying the business?’”