However, at first, with a limited budget, Denis and Sonia purchased the minimal equipment they could get away with, including a forklift, large compressor, pneumatic polishers, hand-operated router and hand tools, as well as an old bridge saw that had to be rebuilt. They also rented a 1,500-sq.-ft. warehouse and started Alpha Granite. The company hired two employees and worked hard to get projects coming in.

Before long, they were doing one to two jobs every week and paying the bills. As word of their business spread, it wasn’t long before they were able to hire a salesperson. That’s when things really took off, and in just over a year they were handling a job a day. That’s when they landed a major account with a national builder and they could barely keep up. Still using a handheld router for fabrication was preventing that expansion because it was slow and wearisome, so the company purchased a Matrix Daytona single head linear polishing machine. While this allowed increased production, it also made it very difficult to fit into a the small shop, so AG rented the space next door to it and added it to the current space.

Even with the expanded space, there were problems. Their inventory and remnants were growing and they were forced to stow them in the parking lot. They were also forced to dump their shop water into the empty lot next to their shop, which was far from ideal and needed to be corrected.

So by the end of 2004, just over one and a half years after its beginning, AG needed to expand again. This time, it moved to a 6,000-sq.-ft. facility, adding the Moraware job tracking software system to combat problems with workflow. They also purchased numerous pieces of CMS/Brembana equipment, including a CNC router, semi-automatic bridge saw and a digitizer. Moraware revolutionized the management side of the business, whereas the new equipment proved to be rugged and accurate, improving fabrication.

To keep up with production demand, AG then instituted a second shift, but was still having problems, particularly with linear edging, even with the machines running pretty much nonstop around the clock. To further combat the problem, they bought a used Comandulli Omega 60 to polish linear edges faster and more efficiently and a Sawing Systems radial arm machine with a 3-brick COMES tangential head to polish scratched slabs or put on honed or leather textures. Even then, though, their water supply couldn’t

keep up with their operations as volume continued to grow.

By 2009, they had purchased the 20,000-sq.-ft. facility with a separate office/showroom building and big yard for slab storage, and the business remains there today.

Upgrading and Modernization

After moving into the much larger facility, Alpha Granite had a lot more room to expand their operation, and after the great recession passed, and business started growing again, they did just that. “the new location we wanted to accomplish the same amount of work, but in a single shift,” said Denis.

However, the amount of product going out of the facility ebbed and flowed, with the amount of custom work that would take longer to perform. So, AG began upgrading and adding to its equipment again. After installing a water filtration system to be able to keep up with the supply of water it needed, the company finally was able to end its second shift by getting the equipment that worked best for its operation.

Today it relies heavily on its modern software, such as Moraware that gets rid of whiteboards and file folders while enabling consistent communication between the office and shop, and its machinery that works to keep production steady. “We believe in using technology to streamline our process and minimize the need for labor that we cannot find,” said Denis. “We have a variety of equipment in our fabrication shop, including the traditional 3-axis Brembana Flexa bridge saw, a 5-axis double-table GMM Brio bridge saw, three CMS/Brembana 4-axis CNC routers, our Comandulli straight line polisher and a Marmo Meccanica LCR straight line polisher. The 5-axis saw helped us speed up cutting and eliminate the use of vinyl templates, and we also bought a Marmo Electro Meccanica LCV 711 M to speed up the polishing of backsplashes.”

In 2012 Alpha Granite also added a Shah Stone Machines SPL 2200, which allows the company to resurface slabs. "The polisher has proven to be a life saver for us, in that it can polish, hone and leather almost all types of materials,” explained Denis. “We not only provide our customers different stone finishes, but are able to repair damaged slabs and we offer this service to fabricators and distributors in Central Texas.”

Early to recognize the growing trend for large-format porcelain and compact surfaces, the company faced a new challenge. “In the past decade the tools and equipment to fabricate natural stone and engineered stone have become almost identical and this enabled us to process both materials through our fabrication shop seamlessly,” said Denis. “But, the inclusion of large-format porcelain and compact surfaces and miter edge profiles certainly created a major challenge to our process. These materials are handled and fabricated differently and do not mix well with natural and engineered stone.”

The company’s remaining product output mix is 60 percent quartz surfacing and 30 percent natural stone (mostly granite). But while over the years AG overcame its growing pains when it came to the processes and equipment, Sonia and Denis realized with all of the employees they now had, their company culture and vision had not progressed alongside of the rest of the business.

After discussing the HR challenges, they decided to bring in outside help to grow their management as well as they had grown the more tangible parts of their business.

Mission, Vision, Culture and Philosophy

With an idea to improve company culture and limit problems with staff, Alpha Granite brought in G2 Solutions, a business consultancy, to assist. With the consultant’s help, AG created value, vision and mission statements as follows:

• Values – “Integrity and Passion for Excellence infuses everything we do. Success is built by supporting an environment of Mutual Commitment, Teamwork and Appreciation for one another while ensuring long lasting customer relationships. Solutions are delivered by a Dependable, Dynamic and Creative team. Professionalism and a Proactive Approach are of prime importance along with an emphasis on Safety and Effective Utilization of Resources.”
• Vision – “To be celebrated as the finest creator of luxurious surfaces by leading the industry through innovation and best practices.”
• Mission – “To provide our customers exquisite products through our responsive, dependable and highly skilled team.”

It was by thinking about these ideals and defining a focus for the business that AG was able to push its management style further toward the betterment of the business. “G2 Solutions has been instrumental in allowing us to stop working in our business and empower the great people we hire so that we can work on our business, allowing us the time to think of the future and plan accordingly,” explained Denis. “People are the one most important asset of any company and together, with a clearly defined process, one can achieve success. Every business has its own level of complexity and in our type of industry we are faced with many moving parts that exert so many challenges along every step of the way to success. When people understand their roles in any organization and have access to the correct resources to perform their tasks, it empowers them to connect the dots and perform at their optimum level.”

Part of fulfilling its mission has meant going above and beyond through such things as the intensive Natural Stone Institute Accreditation process, putting safety first and using technology and best practices to prevent health issues, such as silicosis, and developing a showroom that is as helpful as possible for their clients.

They also consistently seek out opportunities to grow and learn, attending conventions, roundtables and seminars, as well as being active in a number of groups and associations, such as ISFA, in which they are Booster Club members, the aforementioned NSI, the American Institute of Architects and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry, on which Sonia sits on the Austin chapter’s board, serving as treasurer. “Sharing best practices has been instrumental in our growth as a business,” said Sonia. “As such, we feel it’s important to give back to the communities that have helped us succeed.”

“Know what you want and where you want to go with your company and how you are going to get there. Surround yourself with the right people and most importantly choose your technology partners and machine suppliers very carefully,” said Denis and Sonia. “Essentially your people and your technology partner are people that you will be working with for a long time, therefore be sure that you can work with them. You need them just as much as they need you.”

And it is through this sort of forward thinking that the company has lasted nearly 17 years and is still going strong and have management and staff that are proud of their roles within the industry.

For more information contact Alpha Granite & Tile at 915 W. Howard Lane, Austin, Texas 78753, call (512) 834-8746 or visit www.alphagraniteaustin.com.