Parker Hannifin Corp. is combining its industrial and hydraulic hose businesses into one division.
The combination of the new Hose Products Division will be effective July 1, top officials of the hose business said during NAHAD’s annual convention.
Parker said the consolidated division enables it to:
• Simplify products, services and customer experience;
• Support and grow OEM and distribution channels;
• Leverage resources to quickly design, develop and introduce new products;
• Merge technical expertise across hose platforms; and
• Refine and capitalize upon manufacturing efficiencies.
“The advantages we will have as one large division within Parker Hannifin obviously is the scale of the business,” said Dan Barrett, currently general manager of the Industrial Hose Products Division within Parker’s Fluid Connector’s Group. “With the scale is going to come efficiencies. With those efficiencies we are going to be able to remain cost-competitive and keep growing our business in a global market.”
Ben Mather, vice president of operations for the Fluid Connectors Group’s Global Hose Platform, said the big picture is that both the industrial and hydraulics hose units have been a strong group for the last several years, with each posting double-digit percentage growth.
“Doing this right now will help us with speed. It will help us with how we develop compounds and new products, and we will be a lot more efficient so we can really take advantage of the growth, and even accelerate it,” Mather said.
Dedicated channels
While there will be internal changes in how Parker will manage its hose resources, they were adamant that it will continue to sell the products through the current sales channels. This includes the NAHAD distributors that sell a large percentage of the firm’s industrial hose lines.
Going forward
There will be some shifting in the leadership of the combined unit. Mather said that Ty Doyle will be the new general manager for the Hose Products Division. He will be based at the unit’s headquarters in Wickliffe, Ohio, in the same building both were based at previously. Doyle had worked in Parker’s hose business for 15 years before running a division in the firm’s refrigeration business the past four years.
Barrett will work with Mather and serve as the global hose manufacturing manager. Matt Pritchard, currently marketing manager for the hydraulic hose business, will hold that title for the combined Hose Products Division. And Howse will run the aftermarket programs for Parker’s motion groups, including hydraulics, pneumatics and fluid connectors.
Mather said in the past few years Parker has made multi-million-dollar investments into its hose manufacturing to add mixing capacity, braiding equipment, hose manufacturing equipment and CNC machining for metal needs.
Noting that both hydraulic and industrial hose units do the majority of business through distribution, he said it’s important to get the message out that there are no plans to change the channel strategy.
“Every piece of that channel is critically important to how we got here and how we’re going to get to the next level,” Mather said. “There is no way we could get to all of the customers that our products ultimately touch without that distribution channel. This is the model that will continue to be the model going forward.”
Image Credit:Parker Hannifin Corp