Datum CNC owners Des Pitfield and Zak Pitfield de Mille head to EMEX 2024 with two aims.
The first, show SME businesses Zak’s innovative, small footprint CNC machines, and secondly, connect with robotics firms they believe will be their collaborators for the Series II – because they’re already thinking that far ahead before they’ve sold a single machine.
It’s a bold yet achievable vision that aligns with EMEX’s purpose. Connecting, collaborating, and supporting Kiwi innovation.
Des and Zak say they work well together, but don’t call them a father/son team.
“It’s son and father,” Des says. “I just make the coffee.”
He does more than that. But Zak is the gifted engineer, and the machines are based on Zak’s own design, built in his garage for his own use. That machine got better and better and research showed little similar currently available in the New Zealand or Australian markets – a small footprint, highly precise CNC machine with wide abilities.
Its point of difference is precision and rigidity. Solid frames and steel tubes filled with a compound mean less movement and elevate the machines beyond the “hobby” abilities of other small CNC machines.
The hybrid is not a traditional mill. It’s a gantry mill, with a simple goal: To make automation available to small/medium Kiwi firms, enabling them to bring development in-house.
Des believes some options previously available only to firms with “very deep pockets” will open for businesses who might have previously outsourced, in particular, small firms wanting to develop prototypes at a reasonable cost.
With both still working full time jobs while developing Datum CNC at nights and weekends, EMEX is “make or break”. They’ve committed their own money to rent premises and while Zak develops the product, Des works on marketing and connections.
The pair are inspired by many established New Zealand firms that began in similar ways and hope for another family firm that works with similar companies, providing skilled jobs and innovative products.
Industry feedback indicates they might be onto something.
“The future of manufacturing is in automation,” says Zak. “But this would make New Zealand-made automation available to smaller firms. We want to use EMEX to align with other companies with the same goals.”