Salem Distributing Co., based in Winston-Salem, N.C., has announced a merger between its Salem Stone Division and the Bergman-Blair Machine Corp. John Bergman will operate the new Bergman-Blair Division, which will remain in Oyster Bay, Long Island, N.Y.

"We anticipate a sales and service network second to none," said Bergman. "Our present and future customers should benefit immensely and as the industry continues to grow the structure will already be in place to meet all future demands."

With this merger, the sales force of Salem Stone will now have access to the machinery represented by Bergman-Blair, including GM stone saws, Montresor edging machines, Stonelec multi-functional machines and Bimatech CNC work centers. Salem Stone will also continue to represent the Bovone StonEdge vertical edging machines.

"We are very excited about the combination of our two companies, which has formed one of the largest machine and consumable supply forces in the stone industry," said Bob Long, president of Salem. "We are especially pleased to be working with John Bergman, not only because of his extensive knowledge of the stone industry and equipment but also for his impeccable reputation and history of fair and honest dealing."