Slippery Rock Gazette

The Marble Institute of America (MIA) has released its 2014 Fabricator Benchmarking Survey, which was sponsored by Cosentino NA, KOHLER Co., and TENAX USA. The 2014 survey boasted 212 participants with 40% of those also completing the 2013 survey. Participation in the survey was available for free to all fabricators in North America and the resulting report allows fabrication companies to compare their firm with firms of similar size. The MIA has used the data derived from the survey, both the current year and prior year, along with additional industry statistics, to create a one-of-a-kind web portal that contains statistical data, design trends, housing information, and more. 

While the survey questions were posed to fabricators, the report offers relevant information for suppliers and international companies seeking information about the North American market. The report also highlights key differences between fabricators operating manual versus automated production facilities.

Stephanie Guilfoyle, who facilitated the survey for the MIA, had this to say of the participation, “I was truly amazed to see the variety within the stone industry ...from small shops with 1 or 2 employees and no showroom, to larger operations with 80 employees and 10,000 sq ft showrooms! I’m excited to show the results of the survey to the industry.”

Peter DeKok, of Granite Mountain Enterprises said, “This is by far the best survey result/analysis the MIA has ever done.”

New in the 2015 survey are:

• Sales, payroll, purchasing broken out by geographic region
• Sales, payroll, purchasing broken out by metropolitan area
• Internet trends
• Spending on natural stone as a percentage of all stone and as a percentage of sales
• Ranking of Natural and Quartz purchases by geographic region

“This is the best in depth analysis we’ve ever done,” said Mike Loflin, MIA Industry Research and Information Manager. “From the additional data collected on region and metropolitan areas, we were able to develop the analysis so that companies could compare their results with results of same size companies in the same region, or in the same size metropolitan area.  It makes the results much more useful for the fabricators.”

The results of this study, along with several other key industry trends/reports, are posted by the MIA’s Industry Research and Information Department on the MIA’s online industry statistics web portal. 

A follow up report is being produced in July which will present a two year perspective with data provided by over 400 fabricators.  An opportunity to participate will be given to fabricators who have not yet submitted their data. 

To learn more about upcoming studies, please visit the website, www.marble-institute.com/data.