Parker Hannifin Corp.'s workers at the 1000 Home Ave. facility in Akron cut, drill, and assemble pneumatic cylinders like this according to customer specifications. Parker Hannifin has announced plans to close the facility, which employs 75 people, and transfer the work to its other factories.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Parker Hannifin Corp.'s Pneumatic Division has announced plans to close its Akron facility at 1000 Home Ave., which employs 75 people, and transfer that manufacturing work to other Parker facilities.
Parker Hannifin, the motion and control technology giant, said it is meeting with the United Auto Workers Local 294, which represents about 58 workers, to discuss its proposal, but has made no final decisions. Another 17 office workers are not represented by the union.
Parker said it plans to offer outplacement assistance and severance packages to affected workers in Akron, after talking to union representatives.
Workers at the Home Avenue facility cut, drill, and assemble pneumatic cylinders according to customer specifications. The engineers design each component to order, "and we machine it to match," said Gary Deremer, a receiving clerk and 21-year employee. "We don't mass-produce."
From the mechanisms that close jail doors to the landing gear under commercial airplanes, "we make all of that," he said.
The Home Avenue facility was built in 1952. Parker Hannifin acquired it as part of its 1985 acquisition of Schrader Bellows. At one point, according to the union, employment there was nearly double the number it is now.
Parker's proposal calls for shutting the building in two phases over the next five months.
"The plan allows the division to reduce fixed costs to better manage profitability and remain globally competitive," Parker Hannifin said in a statement. "Despite significant efforts to improve the operation at Home Avenue, the facility is operating at a loss, and the proposed plan results in substantial cost savings."
"The plan in no way reflects the effort and dedication of our associates at this location who have worked hard over the years to make this operation viable," the company said.
On Jan. 15, Parker quietly cut 40 jobs from its corporate offices in Mayfield Heights in an effort to "align costs with current levels of demand."
Mike Whitmer, president of UAW Local 294 and a machinist for nearly 40 years, said of the Akron facility: "We're going to try to negotiate with them to keep the plant open. We're hoping to put a package together to try to meet their numbers."
He said that until the company announced its plans on Friday, April 15, "we thought everything was going great."
Whitmer said workers were told that they could apply for jobs at other Parker facilities in Wadsworth, Kent, and Ravenna, but that there are no guarantees anyone would be hired.
Parker Hannifin, ranked No. 230 on the Fortune 500, is among the world's largest diversified manufacturers of motion and control technologies and systems, providing precision-engineered solutions for the mobile, industrial and aerospace industries.
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