Parker-Hannifin

Parker Hannifin is a diversified manufacturer of motion and control technologies and systems, providing precision-engineered solutions for a wide variety of commercial, mobile, industrial, and aerospace markets. 

They have global leadership positions in nine core Motion and Control technologies that include aerospace, climate control, electromechanical, filtration, fluid and gas handling, hydraulics, pneumatics, process control, sealing and shielding. They are also demonstrating how their interconnected portfolio of motion and control technologies is critical to enabling a cleaner and sustainable world.

1917: Arthur L. Parker founded the Parker Appliance Company on March 13, 1917, in a small loft in Cleveland, Ohio, along with his business partner, Carl Klamm.

1919: Parker's truck slid over a cliff, causing the company to lose its entire inventory and forcing the founder to return to his previous job.

1924: Parker tried again, offering new flared-tube fitting components to expand his one-product line. Working as an engineer at Cleveland's New York, Chicago, and St Louis Railroad, also known as NICKEL PLATE ROAD, Parker saved enough money to reopen his business.

1927: The firm had expanded into aeroplanes.

1934: Now indispensable to two transport industries, the company achieved $2 million in sales.

1935: Other businesses were not so lucky: although almost four million cars rolled off assembly lines, many smaller factories had to close their doors. Parker Appliance purchased a 450,000-square-foot building at 17325 Euclid Ave. to expand its manufacturing capabilities.

1941: By the time President Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan and its allies in December, patents held by the Parker Appliance Company were setting standards for such components of military aircraft as hydraulic tube couplings, fuel system valves, and pumps.

1945: After Arthur Parker's death and the end of the war, the company neared bankruptcy due to the sudden drop in demand.

1947: 1947 GMC Cabover w/truck bed manufactured. 

1951: Parker Appliance reached $12.2 million in sales.

1953: Arthur Parker's son Patrick S. Parker began working full-time at the company.

1957: The company purchased Hannifin, a producer of valve and cylinder products, and changed its name to Parker Hannifin.

1961: Mindful of the need for ultra-modern manufacturing plants, the company made a heavy investment in equipment to increase capacity and improve operating efficiency.

1962: Situated in Amsterdam, it was followed in June, Parker-Hannifin NMF GmbH in Cologne, West Germany, a subsidiary gained by the purchase of Niehler Maschinenfabrik, a manufacturer of hydraulic components.

1964: With a team of 4,400 employees, Parker Hannifin became a publically traded company on December 9, 1964, listing shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

1967: The wisdom of this practice was reflected in this year's sales, which totalled more than $152 million.

1968: Outgoing President Robert Cornell was succeeded by the founder's son, Patrick Parker. Reasoning that wears on cars always makes replacement parts necessary, he set his sights on the Plews Manufacturing Company, a maker of quick-disconnect couplings, acquiring this concern.

1969: The company designed parts for the craft used in NASA's first manned moon landing.

1970: An economic downturn forced the company to expand beyond its focus on hydraulic systems.

1971: A recession in 1971, caused profits to tumble, prompted a new strategic plan called cycle forecasting.

1978: Following shortly afterwards was the Robert Company, which made windshield wipers and rear-view mirrors, and in 1978, EIS Automotive Corporation, manufacturers of hydraulic replacement parts for drum- and disc-brake systems.

1979: Many more acquisitions followed, with the company reaching 40 acquisitions. Parker Hannifin employed 20,000 people in 100 plants, selling 90,000 items for machinery, aeroplanes, cars and construction equipment to 60,000 customers.

1980: Proof of the strategy's success came with the year-end sales figures, which passed $1 billion for the first time.

1982: Paul G. Schloemer replaced Patrick Parker as the company's president (although Patrick Parker remained chairman and CEO). That same year, the firm entered the Mexican market.

1984: Paul Schloemer succeeded Patrick Parker as CEO and president.

1988: The company reached $2 billion in sales.

1989: In November, Parker-Hannifin sold its three automotive aftermarket components divisions to an investor group headed by the president of the Parker automotive group. The biomedical group had sales of about $4 million.

1990: Parker began to reorganise its operations in the early 1990s to focus on its core motion and control markets' aerospace and industrial.

1993: Parker's 26,000 employees operated 143 manufacturing plants and 87 administrative and sales offices, company stores, and warehouses around the world. The firm opened its first retail "ParkerStore" in Cleveland.

1995: Parker achieved all-time sales and earnings records in the fiscal year with $3.21 billion in sales and a net income of $218.2 million or $2.96 per share.

1996: The purchase of Swedish-based VOAC Hydraulics fortified the company's product line with hydraulic systems for mobile heavy equipment.

1997: Parker moved into a newly-constructed global headquarters at 6035 Parkland Blvd. in Mayfield Heights and launched its first company website, www.parker.com. Parker-Hannifin bought New Jersey-based EWAL Manufacturing, a maker of fittings and valves.

1999: The company's sales reached approximately $5 billion.

2000: Parker Hannifin acquired Commercial Intertech Corporation, a maker of hydraulic systems.

2001: CEO Don Washkewicz introduced lean startup methods to company operations and has said that over the decade this reduced the time to obtain price quotes by 60% and cut product development lead times by 25%.

2008: The company won $2 billion in contracts to build fuel and hydraulic systems for Airbus A350 airliners. Its products were used in repairing the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

2011 The company hired Ryan Farris out of Vanderbilt University and licensed patents covering a powered exoskeleton that Farris had worked on at Vanderbilt.

2012: Here are 10 little-known facts about GMC: The GMC name turns 100 years old.

2013: With annual sales surpassing $13 billion in the fiscal year, approximately 58,000 employees supported operations in 49 countries around the world.

2015: The company opened an internal business incubator that Maxwell had proposed when he was first hired. Thomas Williams took over the CEO role from Washkewicz.

2016: The completed its largest acquisition to date, buying Clarcor, a filtration systems manufacturer, for $4.3 billion.

2018: Parker's fiscal year resulted in 14.5 billion in sales.

Parker has defined its unique contribution to the world through a new purpose statement: “Enabling engineering breakthroughs that lead to a better tomorrow.”

“Because of our high ethical standards, the Parker name is recognised around the world as a good citizen and a symbol of quality in motion-control products.”