Stonegate, The UK’s Most Trusted Provider Of Specialist Tooling To Stone Fabricators

Stonegate, The UK’s Most Trusted Provider Of Specialist Tooling To Stone Fabricators

The title cements Stonegate’s positioning within the UK stone tooling and consumables industry. Their value proposition hails the market-leading supplier of tooling & consumables to the stone industry as not only the largest business of its type but one that builds and cultivates the best working relationships with its valued customer base.

 

Stonegate’s value proposition, “the UK’s most trusted provider of specialist products and knowledge to stone fabricators”, are certainly words the company lives by. Recently, Stonegate has made a considered effort to focus on the strategy of being a better supplier to its customers – external market research followed by a new brand and innovative website made huge waves within the worldwide stone market; coupled with their attendance at the Natural Stone Show 2017 has meant that this year has been a busy one indeed for Stonegate.

 

Through hard work, research and fabricator development Stonegate have managed to build a range of best-in-class diamond tooling for stone. The company enjoys the benefits of carrying exclusive brands such as Cherokee, manufacturing high-performance diamond tooling since 2011. The business commits itself wholly to championing its customers and works hard to constantly develop best-in-class tooling with unrivalled stock availability making it the first-line, preferred supplier to the biggest fabricator businesses in the country.

 

Graham Hazell, Senior Director of Stonegate commented, “All of the team here at Stonegate are incredibly passionate about everything we do for our customers, putting them first and understanding what they need. It gives me a real buzz when we’re able to help our customers improve their processes through providing them with the specialist tools and advice they need to succeed.”

 

Lloyd Johnston from Stonegate’s sales team put the businesses strong performance down to the hardworking staff, “To become The UK’s Most Trusted Provider of Specialist Products and Knowledge to Stone Fabricators is a tribute to every member of the team at Stonegate.  It takes so much more than just being a supplier of tooling, it takes a champion team not just a team of individual champions.  Each one is committed 100% to going beyond the expectation of the customer, whilst supporting each of their team members to achieve their goals. The strength of the team in Stonegate is why our customers put their trust in us and it is an honour to serve them to enable them to reach their objectives.”

 

It’s Stonegate’s exclusive products that really set their range apart – their New Product Development & Operations Teams are constantly developing innovative tooling to benefit fabricators far and wide. The newest developments come in the form of their range of High-Speed Tooling, consisting primarily of the Falcon Diamond Bridge Saw Blade and the Status High-Speed Router. Unlike many other blades on the market that have their segments affixed with copper strip welding, the Falcon Blade is constructed using laser welding – making the bond 10X stronger than standard blades and enabling extremely fast cutting (up to 2.5M/min through granite & 3.5M/min through Quartz).

 

We spoke with technical sales team member for Stonegate, Clayton Worsley; “The Falcon Bridge Saw Blade is ideal for customers who want to seriously up their production capabilities & make a huge difference to their output. It’s not just the enhanced cutting speed, but overall life and durability are better than anything we’ve developed before – this is the new generation of bridge saw blades with the team here at Stonegate leading the market. We have had customers tell us that this high speed blade has literally been the difference between buying a new bridge saw and not! ”

 

The Status High-Speed Router delivers truly impressive performance and although it’s lighter and smaller than its counterpart Status Routers, it’s capable of running at nearly double the speed; up to 400mm/min through granite and 600mm/min through quartz. These new products Stonegate have developed are not only exclusively available through the company but they come with Stonegate’s expert technical knowledge, enabling their easy implementation within stone workshop so you can focus on getting the most of their throughput.

 

Aside from diamond cutting tools and the High-Speed Range, Stonegate is also well-known for their impressive stone polishing products, again showcasing exclusive brands and innovative products you won’t find elsewhere. The most recent innovation Stonegate has developed, with their polishing partner brand Aztec, is the Ultimax V6 Edge Polishing Pads – available in both snail lock & Velcro backing. Customer feedback on the V6 pads is universally positive, “longer life and better shine than any other pads we have tried, don’t send us any others!” exclaimed one very happy customers who’d run the new edge pads on his Marmo Meccanica LCH 722.

 

Perhaps one of the most noticeable developments we’ve all seen over recent years is the relationship between Stonegate and leading slab supplier Cosentino – partnering for the benefit of both fabricators and end users across the country, they’ve worked together to produce an exclusive range of high-quality, performance tooling which is guaranteed to successfully & efficiently fabricate Cosentino’s signature innovation, DEKTON. The message from Stonegate is clear, “such a high-quality material needs the very best tooling to ensure the finish lives up to the customer’s expectations. Our relationship with Cosentino is beneficial for everyone involved. Cosentino have peace of mind that the right products are being used on their material, fabricators get tooling that works effectively, and we get to spread our message about what great customer service & technical advice in the stone industry is all about.”

 

The jewel in the Stonegate’s market-leading crown has to be their worldwide exclusivity with best-in-class stone CNC manufacturer Status Diamond Tooling. Status has made huge steps in the UK to provide the very best stone CNC tooling available – each tool is guaranteed to have a minimum 5mm diamond thickness and metal tools can be redressed up to four times, cementing the value for money Status customers buy into.

 

Stonegate truly is focussed on stone CNC tooling and are throwing everything they have into making sure customers benefit. Where the business really sets themselves apart is that they’ve worked closely with Status Diamond Tooling to guarantee availability and minimise downtime in workshops needing urgent tools – popular profiles are kept in-stock at Stonegate’s purpose-built warehousing facility for immediate, overnight delivery, whilst the business commits to having all CNC tooling orders being turned around in 48 hours.

 

Customers choosing Status Diamond Tooling benefit from a brand heritage stretching back over 40 years, specialising in stone fabrication and working hard to constantly innovate & advance the production capabilities of fabricators who demand only the highest-quality when it comes to their CNC tooling. The relationship between Stonegate & Status is stronger than ever with a strong, stable market and Stonegate’s hard work to ensure constant availability. Lee Winduss, Purchasing Manager for Stonegate, explained more about why it’s important for them to ensure Status CNC stock is readily available, “for our customers it’s vital that they know they can turn to us for their tooling; in almost all cases they need it urgently and we can be the difference between keeping their workshop running and operational and it being down. We’ve worked hard to guarantee all of our most popular Status Diamond Tooling profiles are turned around and with the customer within 48 hours.”

 

Carl Hazell, Stonegate Director, added, “Through building strong working relationships with reputable suppliers we can continue to maintain our growth. We strongly believe in long-term supplier partnerships with those key to our business operations for the benefit of our customers. The effort is certainly paying off and we’re now the rewards of years of hard work to ensure value for our customers who depend on our business to keep theirs operational.”