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Nothing is set in stone for Unique Tile Ltd. While the Nixa business is built on products that stand the test of time – stone and tile – the adoption of cutting-edge innovation resulted in a complete overhaul of operations in 2024. A new computer numerical control saw and more sustainable water recycling system is propelling Unique Tile into the future.

President Melissa Turpin founded Unique Tile in 1988. She studied interior design in college and discovered a love for tile soon after. It’s an artistic process, and she drew much of her inspiration from Italian craftspeople.

“I fell in love with tile and what it does and all the things that you can do with it,” she says. “It’s just blossomed.

Much of Unique Tile’s product is sourced from Italy and Spain along with factories in the United States. The wholesale distributor provides products for commercial and residential projects around the country.

Hospitality is a large source of business for Unique Tile, Turpin says. The team has worked on multiple Bass Pro Shops locations, provided mosaic tiles for a Carnival Corp. cruise ship and created custom tile products for the Museum of the Bible hotel in Washington, D.C.

In planning for growth in the business, upgrades to the Nixa shop became necessary. So, in March of this year, Unique Tile installed a $250,000 CNC bridge saw and router from Breton S.p.A, an Italian manufacturer.

The fully automated saw allows operators to enter templates into a computer. The saw then performs the cuts on its own. While the previous machine cut only in two directions, the CNC saw moves in any direction needed, Turpin says. It even moves the tile itself and includes a lift for slabs, which reduces workplace risk as the slabs are often 800 to 1,000 pounds.

CNC saws are an increasingly common machine used in the industry because of their efficiency and speed, said Paul Mudd, vice president of Unique Tile and Turpin’s husband. The saw is at least three times faster than the previous machine and has improved overall efficiency.

“It’s definitely helped for cutting down on labor to get the products out quicker, and it’s just a very nice investment to commit to continue doing this for a long time,” says Kevin Alba, project manager of the stone department.

Along with the addition of the CNC saw, Unique Tile installed a $36,000 water recycling system to accommodate increased water usage. The new CNC saw requires a larger amount of water, and the previous recycling system could not support its needs. Because Unique Tile also recently had to switch its water provider to the city of Nixa water, the cost of not recycling water could have exponentially increased its bills. So, the company made the decision to switch to a large water recycling system.

“The new saw requires a certain amount of water, and I don’t know that the city could have produced that without having some kind of system to feed it,” says Mudd. “Before, water would get so slow that it would barely run out of the sink with the well system that it has.”

In a stone shop, almost every tool requires water to keep down debris. With the new system, the water runs to trenches in the floor, and these connect to a pit where a filter press cleans the water and returns it to a tank for recycled use. The system saves Unique Tile 1,940 gallons per hour and was made custom for the company’s needs, Mudd says. Even though the city’s water costs more than the previous server, Unique Tile’s water bills cost only between $30 and $50 per month thanks to the new recycling system. Previously on a private water company, their bill was approximately $164 per month.

As one of only two shops in Missouri to be accredited through the National Stone Institute, having a water recycling system is required. Unique Tile has been accredited since 2006, having a smaller recycler. However, this new system is another step toward expanding operations with greater sustainability.

“We’ve proven ourselves to be business savvy and do things the right way,” Alba says.

It has also contributed to employee attraction and retention, says Turpin. The National Stone Institute upholds certain requirements for clean air to prevent silica disease, a pulmonary fibrosis disease that can result from breathing in silica, found in sand, quartz and other stone materials, according to the American Lung Association. It’s a more common condition for those working careers in construction and mining and can result in lung tissue scarring.

“We go through a system where it’s been proven through the stone standards,” says Alba. “So, I think the employees feel confident knowing that we are doing things the right way.”

From start to finish, Unique Tile spent approximately $500,000 to install the saw, water recycling system and all necessary upgrades to accommodate the machines. While redoing the entire shop was no easy task, it was the company’s biggest win for 2024, Turpin says. It improved the process, kept customers satisfied on lead time, and opened up opportunities to take on additional jobs due to not needing staff at the saw. No employees were let go with the installation of the automated machine, she said. Those employees’ duties were shifted instead to other tasks, allowing the company to even further expand operations. The team is looking into 2025 with excitement for what’s next.

“For 2024,” Turpin says, “that was our biggest challenge and our biggest win.”