Business Sense: Make Inflation Hurt a Little Less

By Katherine Gifford of Moraware Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water and stubbed your big toe on the nearest table? Well, inflation is kinda like that. Except instead of hurting your toe, it hurts your bottom line. It also hurts … Read more

Business Sense: Tips to Reduce Reworks for Countertop Fabricators

“Oops…” Those are words you never want to hear when you are getting a haircut or during a countertop job. Every time this phrase is uttered, it usually means it’s going to cost some money to fix it. And there’s nothing worse than having to use more time and resources to … Read more

Business Sense: Best Hiring Practices for Your Countertop Fabrication Business

By Katherine Gifford of Moraware For years, hiring has always been a huge challenge for the stone industry. Shops are busier than ever, and the labor pool is smaller than ever. We can’t fix that, unfortunately. But, we can try to help by sharing some best practices when it comes to hiring … Read more

Business Sense

Never Stop Improving: Tips for Continuous Improvement in Lean Manufacturing for Countertop Fabricators By Katherine Gifford of Moraware It might be the fifth and final principle, but when it comes to lean manufacturing, they do actually save the best and most important for last. Continuous improvement is the fifth principle of … Read more

Health & Safety Watch: June is National Safety Month

Join the National Safety Council (NSC) in observing June as National Safety Month. In doing so the organization offers free materials to share in order to create a culture of safety in the workplace. Each week in June NSC provides materials focused on a different topic. This year’s topics include … Read more

Business Sense: 8 Wastes for Countertop Fabricators to Cut for Better Efficiency

By Katherine Gifford of Moraware We’ve been diving deep into lean manufacturing for countertop fabricators over the last few weeks. And because lean manufacturing is all about boosting efficiency with an emphasis on cutting waste, that’s what this whole post is dedicated to! Think of manufacturing waste like that extra poundage you pick up … Read more

Natural Stone Institute Releases Updated Dimension Stone Design Manual

The Natural Stone Institute has announced that the newest version of the Dimension Stone Design Manual is now available. Dimension Stone Design Manual 2022 is available for download or hard copy purchase. The 2022 edition will be of special interest to commercial installers, fabricators, design professionals, and suppliers to the … Read more

Business Sense: Scheduling Tricks to Save You Time

By Katherine Gifford of Moraware There never seems to be enough time in the day. It’s true for our personal lives, and for countertop fabricators, it’s especially true in the office. Luckily, with some fancy scheduling, you can save some time here and there throughout the day. It might not seem … Read more

Business Sense: 5 Best Practices for Training New Employees on Existing Processes and Systems

As if finding help wasn’t hard enough for busy fabricators, once you find the employees you need, you have to train them! While it might take time out of your very busy schedule, training is a vital part of keeping your business running smoothly and efficiently.  If you look at employee retention … Read more

Fabricator Profile: A Top En-counter

Provided by Durasein What Huntington Beach, Calif.-based solid surface company A Top En-counter lacks in size, it makes up for through creativity, ingenuity, passion, the utilization of advanced equipment and experience. Owner Kevin Libby didn’t take the traditional path to solid surface fabrication, but rather started his journey building houseboats. … Read more