MFT STONE, A BRIEF HISTORY
The idea of the company MFT Stone was conceived in May 2002
following market research into the Natural stone industry. It
was felt that there was room for a company with a good product
range, competitively priced and with a dynamic attitude to the
market.
The managing director of the company, John Harland, comes from a engineering and machine tool background.
As the manufacturing industry, certainly high volume work,
spiraled away from the UK heading towards China, John realised that a change of direction was needed and
different avenues were explored. MFT Stone is the largest
operation to have come from the change.
The company was registered 27th August 2002 and began
trading immediately. Initially the source of products came
from Spain and a good relationship was soon established with
the Spaniards who could supply a wide range of products. The
monumental industry was the first target but it became
apparent that there were many other, larger businesses
producing kitchen tops, bathrooms, tiles, etc, etc.
From conception and calling on bad experiences from the
engineering industry MFT Stone set out to provide a level of
service based around what each customer wanted, whether it
meant calling on the phone or visiting once a week. Again
calling on previous experience MFT Stone took the strange
decision to work with it's suppliers and do strange things
like pay bills usually on receipt of invoice. Cash flow in and
out is of great concern and importance to any business and we
aim to persuade our customers to think likewise.
After six months of trading MFT Stone has an increased
product range which is still expanding rapidly. A wider range
of consumables is now sourced through five suppliers some of
whom have granted exclusivity. Of major recent interest is the
introduction of some unique small machine tools, tool doctor
service, and the ability to source some larger machinery, new
and used.
On top of all of this is the agency for the new Tekna
Robostone. A new machine and process that will get architects
and manufacturers thinking about where the limits are to stone
working. On a recent visit to Canada the Tekna Robostone was
seen in action as the first production machine following over
five years of research and trials. Tekna, based in Sherbrooke,
Quebec is a major innovative player in the plasma machine tool
market. Processes supplied by them include: powder
spheroidisation, nano powder systhesis and purification of
metals to name a few.
The Robostone process uses the plasma torch to create a
variety of surfaces, very rapidly, on stone. From lines of
anti slip to full aged or antique texturing effect. The
production machine is expected to produce tiles and other flat
products at a rate of up to 200 square feet per hour. As well
as this the machine is capable of spaying a wide range of
metals including gold, aluminium and silicon carbide onto the
stone, whereby following a previous operation the metal is
adhered to the surface of the stone. Patterns, shapes, company
logos and text can all be created by this method and Tekna are
looking at reducing the size of the plasma blast to enable
smaller text and finer detail to be created.
Another major benefit of the process over traditional
methods is that due to the high but localised heat source
tiles down to 3/8" thick can be produced with texturing
without fear of cracks. Polished tiles that have been
scratched or have slight cracks in can be reclaimed and
converted into anti-slip tiles saving an incredible amount of
waste.
So imagine a granite board room table with the company logo
set into it in gold. Tekna have also found that the metal
spraying can be done on glass, plastic and metal surfaces. On
the floor would be antiqued granite tiles 3/8" thick. Around
the edge of the room the tiles would show of some of the
companies products or a design which the MD of the company
knocked up one week end. The walls of the building would again
be clad with 3/8" tiles saving half the weight of most tiles
used, cutting down by half the amount of deliveries of tiles
to the construction site, reducing by half the load bearing
requirement of the walls and finally the glass front of the
building supporting the same designs that were originally seen
back in the board room.
The Tekna Robostone is an incredible machine and process.
On the largest machine there is room to accept a scant which
can be worked on from five sides. A statue could also be
placed within the machine for spraying with gold in specific
areas. Even concrete can be processed where a local Canadian
council is investigating having text sprayed onto kerb stones
to indicate parking restrictions. Texturing can also be done
on concrete and the production of 3D designs in lime and sand
stone is also being investigated. The ideas and applications
for this process are only limited by the imagination.
MFT Stone will always be on the look out for new, unique or
exciting products to bring to the market. Supply of all
products to the customer will be made by traditional methods,
with a high quality of service and reliability of
competitively priced products being delivered
constantly. | 
