COLD SPRING GRANITE

When Cold Spring Granite built its new corporate headquarters, it immersed itself in the latest trend in the building industry by taking green, or sustainable, construction into account. The result is an innovative, eco-friendly building that’s more efficient than the Cold Spring, Minn., company’s previous headquarters.

The building is located on a large tract of land that also houses manufacturing operations and includes a diverse range of products that Cold Spring Granite produces from its quarries throughout the U.S. and Canada. The headquarters has been registered for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification through the U.S. Green Building Council.

“Our headquarters is the latest in a long line of innovative moves the company has made in its 110-year history,” said Corporate Purchasing Manager Josh Reitmeier. “Our company has always prided itself on being an industry leader. That’s true in the initial phase of our operations, which is getting the raw granite from our quarries, and it carries through to our long list of products. Our previous initiative was lean manufacturing, which Cold Spring implemented in the last decade to streamline operations so that we’re doing more with less. It’s shown positive results by allowing us to fulfill demand faster. In some cases, we’ve been able to reduce our lead time from weeks to hours or days by finding ways to be more efficient.”

Being innovative and efficient has been a company hallmark since Henry Alexander planted the seed for Cold Spring Granite in 1898.

He emigrated from Scotland in 1880 to work in the United States’ stone industry. After returning to his native land in the middle of the decade, he came back to the U.S., joining with other granite workers to form a small granite company. Eventually, he bought the others out and established the foundation for Cold Spring Granite with a focus on producing granite monument and building products.

Throughout the next century, Alexander and successive generations continued to build the company and take it in new directions. Today Cold Spring Granite is one of the largest granite quarrying and fabrication operations in the world, with five fabrication operations to go along with its 30 granite quarries. Alexander’s grandson Patrick D. Alexander is Chairman/ CEO.

Offering a diverse range of products

The company is split into two divisions: Memorialization and Commercial. The Memorialization group features several subsidiaries, including Royal Melrose Granites, which supplies standard and custom monuments, grass markers and other cemetery-type products from its fabricating facility in Cold Spring. Another subsidiary, Granit-Bronz, makes engraved and sculpted bronze products, as well as large family and community mausoleums. It’s latest venture is the Architectural Accolade Collection, which has bronze plaques and signs for buildings and landmarks, among other uses. Cold Spring offers cemetery maintenance and construction as well.

The Commercial group handles orders for architectural building products, which include granite specialties, such as residential slabs for countertops, furniture and tile, landscape products, granite blocks, and granite for