Fletcher Building(MIS100 2009)

By CIO staff | Friday, July 24 2009

2008 ranking: 5

Senior IS executive: Paul Knight, CIO
Reports to: Chief financial officer
Size of IS shop: 139

PCs: 5343
Mobile PCs: 2376
Terminals: 2133
Hand-held devices: 350
Total screens: 10,202

Industry: Manufacturing
PC environment: Windows XP, Vista; Dell
Server environment: HP, IBM, Dell, Microsoft, Unix
DBMS: SQL, Oracle, Lotus
Address: 810 Great South Road Penrose, Auckland
Website: www.fletcherbuilding.co.nz
Key IS projects this year: Hardware refresh; virtualisation; truck despatch system; CRM; SharePoint server; A/P scanning/workflow; E-trading; A/P scanning/workflow; review disaster recovery; customer service and procurement; supply chain optimisation.


Paul Knight, CIO, Fletcher Building: “Our focus during this down-cycle is to get the maximum benefit out of our investments to date. Having said that we have not put a halt to IT investment, projects which improve our customers experience, reduce costs or have a rapid ROI are still being initiated.”

Fletcher Building wants to manage the business effectively in the global economic downturn and ensure the company is in a strong position to benefit from the upswing in economic activity when it emerges.

Fletcher Building is Australasia’s largest building and construction materials supplier by market capitalisation, with leading market positions in the US and Europe. Fletcher Building employs more than 18,500 people and operates more than 35 businesses at 500-plus sites globally.

With a range of market leadership positions in five divisions — Building Products, Distribution, Infrastructure, Laminates and Panels and Steel — and its diverse geographical and industry base, Fletcher Building aims to produce reliable earnings over the long term irrespective of economic cycles.

While Fletcher Building operates in cyclical markets, it has followed a strategy to improve the reliability of the company’s earnings; maintain and improve its internal capabilities; and take up any external acquisition opportunities where these meet its criteria.
CIO Paul Knight says it will continue to assess opportunities within Australasia in products and technologies that are well understood.

“In general we are looking to cut costs wherever possible, focusing our spend on those areas where we need to invest to support the day to day business. During an up-cycle we are more likely to invest in platforms for the future, for example an ERP system refresh. Our focus during this down-cycle is to get the maximum benefit out of our investments to date. Having said that we have not put a halt to IT investment, as projects which improve our customers experience, reduce costs or have a rapid ROI are still being initiated,” says Knight.