Digital industrialists

David ten Have, the 34-year-old CEO of Wellington company Ponoko features on the cover of Inc. Magazine, as part of an article called ‘The Future of Manufacturing’. “Ponoko did not invent the laser cutter. The machine has been around for a couple of decades … But Ponoko is the first company to hook a laser cutter up to the Internet and let anyone, anywhere, take control of it,” says Inc. senior writer Max Chafkin. Asked what Ponoko is trying to achieve, ten Have shares, “We’re trying to take ‘Made in China’ and smear it across the globe. We’re designing a factory for the 21st century.” If you log on to Ponoko’s website, you can find some 20,000 items available for purchase. The items for sale are not held in inventory; they exist digitally as design files on the company’s servers. “What Ponoko really sells is access to rapid fabrication machines allowing people to make stuff for themselves or buy stuff that other people have designed.” Ponoko was established at TechCrunch40 2007, with a vision to reinvent how goods are designed, made and distributed worldwide.