Parker Hannifin - History

History

Milestones:

• 1918: Parker Appliance Company is founded by Arthur L Parker.
• 1919: On a promotional trip to Boston, the truck and trailer carrying the companies entire inventory blows a tire, destroying all of its inventory. Parker Appliance Company became bankrupt, and its founder returned to an engineering post at a Nickel Plate Road plant, but vowed to start again.
• 1924: Arthur Parker saves and restarts the Parker Appliance Company and the pneumatic/hydraulic components division succeeded by serving automotive and aviation customers.
• 1927: Parker's reputation for producing reliable, high pressure connections leads aviator Charles Lindbergh to specify Parker fittings for the Spirit of St. Louis' historic first Atlantic crossing.
• 1935: In the midst of the Depression, optimistic Arthur Parker buys a 500,000-square-foot (42,000 m2) Cleveland auto plant from Hupp Motor Car Company to house his 38-employee Company.
• 1939: Parker Appliance sales reached $3 million.
• 1943: Parker employs 5,000 Clevelanders, all in defense production.
• 1945: Company founder Arthur Parker dies; World War II's end halts defense contracts. With no industrial business, the Company faces near liquidation. Founder's wife, Helen Parker, refuses to give up; hires new management which gradually rebuilds industrial business.
• 1953: Parker makes its first acquisition, the Synthetic Rubber Products Company in Los Angeles, California, USA.
• 1957: Acquisition era is underway. With the acquisition of Hannifin Corporation come new cylinder and valve products and a new corporate name: Parker Hannifin Corporation.
• 1960: New International Division formed to market Parker products abroad.
• 1964: Shares of Parker Hannifin stock (NYSE: PH) are traded on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time.
• 1966: Parker Hannifin enters Fortune 500 listing of top companies.
• 1969: Parker has operations in 10 countries in Europe and Latin America. Pat Parker, the founder’s son, is elected President of Parker and Parker products land on the moon with American astronaut Neil Armstrong.
• 1976: Parker introduces a new company logo.
• 1977: Parker sales reached $500 million.
• 1978: Parker strengthens its position in aerospace market with the acquisition of the Bertea Corporation which lays the foundation for future leadership in flight controls, hydraulics, and fuel management systems.
• 1981: Parker sales reached $1.1 billion.
• 1983: Parker forms joint venture in China.
• 1988: Marking its 70th anniversary, Parker makes seven acquisitions and exceeds $2 billion in sales.
• 1992: Parker globalizes its business by forming worldwide product groups.
• 1997: Parker moves to brand new World Headquarters building in Mayfield Heights, Ohio; a suburb of Cleveland.
• 1998: The first retail store, ParkerStore, opens with the objective to reach the aftermarket and gain a greater customer share.
• 2000: Parker sales reached $5.4 billion. The company merged with Commercial Intertech, its largest deal at the time and completed four other acquisitions.
• 2001: Parker introduced the Win Strategy with the single goal to raise the performance of the company to a higher level. In Europe Parker acquired several large companies in the fluid power business from 1997 and forward, such as Commercial Hydraulics and VOAC Hydraulics.
• 2005: Pat Parker died. Parker sales reached $8.2 billion, the Company acquired six companies, and was awarded the hydraulic subsystem for the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner passenger jet.
• 2006: Parker had made 210 strategic acquisitions since the Company's founding.
• 2007: Parker opened its 1,000 ParkerStore.
• 2011: Parker sales reached record sales of $12.3 billion.