William Cook is a large UK-based engineering Company. It started as a steel casting manufacturer and steel castings still form the basis of many of William Cook's products. But William Cook has advanced far beyond the classic low-tech metal basher. The bulk of William Cook's products now are sophisticated components, assemblies and systems for a huge range of applications. William Cook prefers to design and manufacture its products in-house. This retains control, and reduces reliance on sub-contractors. To assist this, William Cook has substantial design and R&D resources to support its factories, which themselves include large and modern machine shops and testing establishments.