I have a particular interest in the manufacturing of physical goods. For close to 25 years, I have been involved with a boutique, New Zealand-based manufacturer of backpacks and workwear. Cactus Equipment has been designing and making its own products for years.

As opposed to the regular model of spec’ing a product from Far Eastern design and manufacturing houses, Cactus designs in house and then manufacturers in its own New Zealand factory, as well as a number of outsourced but still New Zealand-based facilities. So, the realities of trying to get a product designed and prototyped is something I’m well aware of. The design and sourcing combined with the difficulty in accessing resources makes product engineering a difficult task.

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Ben Kepes

Ben Kepes is a technology evangelist, an investor, a commentator and a business adviser. Ben covers the convergence of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users.

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