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 8|July 2019
Moda Stone
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Moda Stone currently has four locations in South Dakota, oper- ating operates a fabrication and showroom in Rapid City, while the Spearfish, Sioux Falls East and Sioux Falls South locations serve as only showrooms.
All locations, however, are jointly owned by five family members, and operate under the Rausch Companies Incorporated umbrella. All locations were begun new to satisfy expansion within the company, and were opened within the last five years. The company’s scope of service extends to all of South Dakota, south eastern Montana, eastern Wyoming, northern Nebraska, northeastern Iowa and western Minnesota. “There’s a lot of ter- ritory that’s very rural around Rapid City,” continued Rausch, “and most of our installations are located two and a-half to three hours’ drive. Some are five hours away, such as some recent cus- tomers who were farmers and ranchers.”
Material output is approxi- mately 6,000 square feet per month, consisting of 80 percent residential and 20 percent com- mercial projects. Natural stone is still the company’s mainstay by 60 percent, while quartz and Dekton (porcelain) make up the final 40 percent, said Rausch, adding, “We’ve seen a decrease in natural stone and an increase in Dekton, and we are really trying
to develop the exterior applica- tions of it.”
Most of Moda Stone’s natu- ral materials come containerized from Brazil, Italy and India, said Rausch, while quartz is offered in both private label and name brands. The company’s shop is highly automated, and exclu- sively with Park Industries ma- chinery. Feeding those machines with work is accomplished with 6 full time template personnel, 15 fabrication shop craftsmen, 6 monument craftsmen and 10 in- stallers. As a whole, the company employs 49 with 7 sales experts and 7 department managers, and the remainder filling support roles in the company.
Growing Pains
But all the best equipment in the nicest building won’t get you where you want to go, explained Rausch–you’ve got to have more.
“We have been in an extreme and accelerated growth period, and we are currently doing four times the volume than we were five years ago. One of the tough things we are dealing with in Rapid City is that we are con- stantly trying to hire new em- ployees, but there is not much of a pool to pick from. There is less than two percent unemployment here right now, which is a good thing, but it also means that there are not that many workers avail- able, so we are always in a battle to get help.”
“Yes!” adds Rick Piltz, Vice President of operations. “A lot
1950s era granite saw for monument production. Life Song has a history of four generations of hand-crafted artistry. They of- fer over 40 shapes for monuments or signs, with detailed cus- tom designs brought out by traditional carving, and both stan- dard etched lettering and laser photo-etched designs.
Slippery rock Gazette
knows how to meet these stan- dards. I do follow up on their work and check it here and there, but I allow them the time to train each other, and check off each other’s work side by side. That’s how we really tackle the training dilemma, because I don’t have the opportunity to bring in guys who have been polishing for 15 years, or running a machine, or something like that. We train our people from the ground up, find out what their problems are, and help them with those issues. As for training new people for our machines, we at least try to look for people with some tech back- ground, such as being familiar with CAD.”
Marketing and Sales in a Rural Climate
“This market is very active in all of our locations,” continued Rausch. “I would also say that we are somewhat insulated from the national economy. When it is booming, we are not at the same level, and likewise, when it hits the low points, we don’t suffer the same way as the rest of the coun- try. But definitely, the major areas that we are operating in are grow- ing as far as population and jobs.
“What has helped to set us apart from others is that we’ve put a lot of effort into our marketing and advertising and truthfully, I would say, from what I’ve seen in the in- dustry, we’ve invested a lot more than the average fabricator would.
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   of people don’t understand that we are on kind of a little island up here, and that the cities are so far apart. It’s pretty hard to find a trained stone fabricator in this area, so I try to find anyone with some type of fabrication experi- ence, say a welder, someone that
can understand sizes and angles. As for training, honestly, one of the biggest things I’m focused on is not having employee turnover, because I can then get and keep a team that is rooted and set the standards. I schedule everything through Moraware, and everyone
  Center above: This full slab, outdoor kitchen island uses a durable granite.
Below: Kashmir granite countertops with a soft pencil round edge and custom backsplash. Right: Moda Stone’s Rapid City, S.D. showroom is one of four in the state. Their installation area covers all of South Dakota, northern Nebraska, southeastern Montana, southeastern Iowa, eastern Wyoming and western Minnesota.
     











































































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