Fox Marble adds state-of-the-art machinery to Kosovo plant

The AIM-traded firm said the additions to the new marble processing factory would provide additional capacity to meet increased order flow and improve margins.

It said the brand new CNC machine was capable of automatically processing varied shapes of material from slabs and small blocks, including 1,500 square metres of marble tiles per day.

The machine was fully operational, and just manufactured the company's first order in which the whole process was completed in house for ‘cut-to-size’ tiles.

Currently the only one of its kind in the Balkans and Greece, the CNC machine was supplied by Gravellona Macchine Marmo, which Fox described as one of the leading manufacturers of cutting and polishing machinery based in northern Italy.

In addition, Fox Marble said it completed the installation of a block vacuum pump machine, which was a more cost-effective way of adding to the inventory of marble blocks eligible for sale.

This machine allowed resin to be absorbed by blocks that had micro-cracks or fractures in them.

As a result, the machine would improve the yield achievable from the quarries, and increase the pricing of blocks which would otherwise have been considered lower quality.

“Our fully operational factory now has the additional capability to process material-to-order at speed,” said Fox Marble CEO Chris Gilbert.

“We are confident that the cost effectiveness, flexibility and improved sophistication in our processing, delivered by this machinery, will impact positively on margins in the current year.

“The installation of this new machinery also allows us to more effectively access the local market for tiles and ‘cut-to-size’ orders, as well as servicing our international customers.”