William Cooke and Company was founded in 1862 at Tinsley in England. An office was opened in Auckland in 1911 to handle the distribution of wire rope and associated products in New Zealand. Cookes are now part of the worldwide F.K.I. group of companies and are New Zealand?s largest distributor of wire rope, lifting equipment, hydraulic hose and couplings, wear resistant steel, excavator bucket teeth, and transmission products, with branches nationwide. Cookes are also New Zealand?s only manufacturer of steel wire rope.
The SASIT/Cookes relationship first started in 1984, when SASIT was engaged to design, build and maintain a tailored Order Entry and Financials solution. The initial system has grown and been adapted over time to take into account the many changes in the business that have occurred. Another phase of development is occurring now as the business again adapts to changes in product focus, the business environment, and spending patterns of customers.
SASIT has become the Cookes Information and Technology Department, and is involved in all IT related projects, including security, network, and data warehousing projects.
In recent months SASIT has performed a full roll out of Lotus Notes and OpenOffice to reduce the costs of email capability.
Managing Director Philip Pearce comments "We have 15 locations around the country, all on line, with 190 staff, but we have absolutely no specialist IT people on our payroll. SASIT really do understand our business, and literally take care of all our IT worries, leaving all 190 of our staff to get on with what we do best. Equally important, SASIT keep us aware of technical developments in the IT area, and recommend what we should be doing to take advantage of new technology to improve the performance and cost effectiveness of our systems"
