Rock solid

Quality the hallmark of Valders Stone and Marble

By: Deanne Schultz, Sheboygan Press

VALDERS — Hulking masses of limestone, many large enough to dwarf a pickup truck, sit silent and snow-covered in the midday sun at Valders Stone and Marble, Inc. To the untrained eye, they differ only in size and in the type of their striations.

Michael Schumacher, a LEED accredited professional working in sales and business development for the company, thinks otherwise, and if he could move them, he'd have them sorted into piles in no time.

"That large block is dimensional quality," Schumacher said, pointing to a slab in the distance. "That one is wall panel quality, and this one here may be for paving, most likely building veneer."

Just like that, they aren't merely stones anymore — they've become possibilities. Schumacher explained
that for dimensional stones, which are shaped into several different products, he and the employees look for things like consistency, veining, and loosely-compacted seams — hallmarks of the high-quality products Valders Stone and Marble is known for.

While heavy equipment separates stone in the quarry, the employees do the same once each piece reaches the 70,000-square-foot production facility.

"Our employees really make everything happen," Schumacher said. "It takes a very skilled, trained eye to discern what a quality stone is and what it isn't."

That commitment to detail went into one of Valders Stone and Marble's most recent projects — a complete $24 million renovation of the 20,000 square-foot O.C. Tanner jewelry store in downtown Salt Lake City.

In addition to selling couture jewelry, O.C. Tanner's medals can be seen hanging around the necks of Olympic athletes, and their recognition items — watches, jewelry, and even lifestyle equipment — are
regularly presented to employees around the world.

Months of work paid off, earning Valders Stone and Marble and the architects, designers and 120 contractors and subcontractors who worked on the building the prestigious Tucker Award. Given by the Building Stone Institute for excellence in the use and incorporation of natural stone in a building or landscaping project, Schumacher said the honor of the award is shared across the board.

"We'll be accepting on behalf of the entire team," he said. "But it's not me winning the award, or even Valders Stone winning — it's really the employees.  This all starts with everyone here."

While Valders Stone and Marble supplied all the material for the inside of the building, the ultimate statement of the company's capabilities came in the form of the three-story spiral staircase inside, and
outside in the form of 18 dimensional panels laser cut with scenes from the building's former life as a
library; images of the M101 Galaxy, and the face of the late Olbert C. Tanner, the company's founder.
The panels are not only an accomplishment for Valders Stone and Marble, but are also the largest
laser-cut panels in the world.

"These are the largest panels we've ever fabricated here," Schumacher said of the panels that measure 9
feet, 10 inches by 5 feet, 4 inches, and range from 1,000 to 1,500 pounds each.

After being cut to size, the panels were shipped to Vytek Laser Systems in Fitchburg, Mass. — the only place with a laser large enough to complete the project — and then they were off to Salt Lake City, a
total trip of 3,900 miles.

"We were told we'd never be able to laser or etch our stone, so this process is revolutionary," Schumacher
said. "If you look at the panels closely, it looks similar to a dot matrix — it's not deeply engraved …
but it's surfacely applied, and there's a paint that helps the brilliance of the image."

The project wasn't without its challenges — Schumacher said a few of the panels had to be completely redone "because of the variables — the air temperature, the sun, even the temperature of the
slabs. On a few panels, entrapped moisture was a problem, so that meant something in that seven-
step process didn't take."

Schumacher said those panels couldn't simply be re-lasered, which would alter their thickness — the
whole wall of 18 panels is flush from top to bottom and any variation would mar that perfection.

Inside the luxurious O.C. Tanner store, a chandelier  from London hangs in the middle of the staircase,
its facets illuminating the winding trail of Valders Dovewhite stone.

"They wanted the illusion that it was all one piece of stone, so if you look at each step, there's not a
traditional riser and tread with a nosing," Schumacher said. "They cut and fit every piece. Considering that this is on a structural steel backup, you can only get so close when you fabricate steel. I can appreciate the intricacy that went into fitting this in on-site."

The flooring throughout the interior came from the Valders quarry, all the way down to the polished
ecru floors and walls of the vault.

Outside, Valders Buff paving, sidewalks, and curbing surrounds the grand building. The water table – a 6-foot high portion of limestone that hugs the perimeter of the building – had suffered the effects of a century's worth of weathering and was replaced by fresh Valders limestone.

In order to successfully complete any job – from the smallest landscaping project to a 70-story office
building – a network of behind-the-scenes planning starts the minute the limestone leaves the quarry.

Approximately 1 million square foot of stone is quarried annually, processed by 62 employees. For
the O.C. Tanner project, slabs of limestone were brought to the saw plant, where mammoth 11 foot, 6
inch blades, each with 180 diamond teeth, hum back and forth, slicing precisely through each slab
to reach the desired dimensions.

In the slabbing department, other pieces are cut by a water jet. It's a bit of an understatement, because
at 100 horsepower, this beast can sear through 10 inches of stone, boring water through a pin-sized
nozzle at 87,000 pounds per square inch.

"It's the equivalent of Mach 4," Schumacher said.

Other projects are handled on any one of 19 CNC (computer numerical controlled) stations, where
employees program different bits to accomplish the precise needs of each piece.

"These are multiple-access machines, which means we don't have to get at it from straight down,"
Schumacher said. "We can come in on an X- or a Y-axis, and that aperture can turn 90 degrees."

Jim Feifarek, CNC operator and the company's safety committee chairman, explained the unique aspects
of his job.

"The majority of all CNCs being run around the world run hundreds of the same piece at a time,"
Feifarek said. "(Here) most of the work machined is unique pieces…Standard plant tolerances are 1.5
millimeters, but because the CNCs we run can be adjusted in the parameters by a thousandth of a
millimeter, a half-millimeter is our personal tolerance. It gives us great pride to have high production along with quality machining while maintaining a safe work environment."

Schumacher explained that technology has allowed Valders Stone and Marble to become a custom shop.

"There is no such thing as wheels or standard profiles," he said. "We do have things that are typical to our industry, but everything else is custom."

For involved applications, project managers interpret directions and measurements, submitting them to the production lines. Each piece is marked, with the customer receiving a set of installation directions.

"It's almost like assembling a puzzle," Schumacher said. "All the installing contractor has to do is put
each piece in place. With our accuracy, there should be little to no field alterations. Certainly, there may
be, but most of the work is completed here."

Another focus of the company is its dedication to employee safety — currently they've worked 821
days with no loss of time injuries – and sustainability.

Schumacher said the company recycles virtually 100 percent of the water used in operations, along with
carefully controlling product waste.

"Trimmings and cutoffs get turned into landscape stone, building veneer, or crushed for quality
aggregate for road bases and parking lots," he said. "We're very conscious about that."

That commitment to detail and the dedication to each project have allowed Valders Stone and Marble to thrive, with the capstone being the Tucker Award.

Steve Koch, a stone designer, is thankful for the award and proud of the work that went into receiving it.

"It all comes down to all the workers here. We've received a lot of other awards over the years, but
this award is special to us," Koch said. "It all comes down to the workers here – they show pride in their
work and give 100 percent every day."

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