Industry Experience

Hi, my name is Quentin Rowe, and I am a contract design engineer. My career spans my apprentice toolmaker beginnings at PDL Industries, Christchurch; joining the Britten Motorcycle Team – a great New Zealand success story; through to over a decade of running Quartic Engineering Ltd., my own engineering business, with it’s multiple challenges and roles.

Through my work experience and involvement in the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, I have developed an intricate appreciation and understanding of manufacturing processes, and have learned that this should be allowed for at the very beginning of any engineering project.

I can bring a diverse range of skills & abilities to any project or contract related work in the fields of engineering, design, systems or management.

Quartic Engineering Ltd.

Before Quarticom, I owned Quartic Engineering. This was a CNC production, prototyping, R & D workshop. As can be expected I filled many roles in my decade in this business, including sales & quoting, CAD/CAM programming & design, and workshop & staff management. It was sold in 2006 as a going concern to Automatic Machining Specialists Ltd, who continued with the production aspects.

Britten Motorcycle Co.

This was quite an adventure - to be involved in a great New Zealand success story, and I refer to it as my ‘second apprenticeship’. Here, I commissioned and operated their Bridgeport CNC milling machine, which included writing CAM software to run it.

This period comprised three phases; the build-up to the 1994 Isle of Mann TT, then the time after John Britten’s death from cancer, and then a short contract period to commit the engine drawings of the V1000 to a 2D CAD database.

I shared the excitement of being part of an ambitious project - a project that stretched individuals and resources to the limit, and caught the imagination of Kiwis, inspiring young inventors throughout New Zealand. With race deadlines to contend with, we all knew that what we contributed had to count, or we would all be let down.

PDL Industries Ltd.

At the time, PDL was the most sophisticated tool-room in New Zealand, with state of the art equipment and thorough training. My time there comprised three phases; my toolmaking apprenticeship, then as a tradesman in the tool-room machining plastic injection mold-tools, then as CAD designer of tooling and electrical products.

Towards the end of my apprenticeship, the practice of specialization began to be adopted. I therefore experienced the priviledge of witnessing a special period, where two methodologies reigned - the more traditional holistic approach, making the tools from base to cavity, then as specialization became more prevalent, standard mould-bases and parts were bought in, and we could focus on machining the more intricate cavities. It sped up mould production, and was much more cost effective.

Today, both methods are relevant, depending on the particular requirements of a project. Because of my exposure, I can appreciate the benefits of each approach and apply them accordingly.