Parker Aerospace, one of Orange County’s largest aerospace employers, jumped in size locally after its parent company’s recently completed purchase of U.K. giant Meggitt PLC.
Parker Aerospace grew to 1,716 Irvine employees from 1,242, while floor space—both manufacturing and office space—increased about 40% to 814,000 square feet.
“Within the city limits of Irvine, we are going to move from three operating divisions to five,” said Barry Draskovich, Parker vice president of program and contract management.
He leads the team integrating Parker with Meggitt, an aerospace and defense firm.
Parker Aerospace was No. 6 on the Business Journal’s September ranking of the largest aerospace and defense contractors in OC by local headcount, while Meggitt was No. 13.
Those rankings were completed before the purchase of Meggitt became final.
Parker specializes in a wide array of aircraft research, design and manufacturing, including systems for flight controls, hydraulic, fuel, fluid conveyance, ducting, exhaust air management, pneumatic and lubrication.
Lengthy Integration
One of the two local Meggitt divisions joining Parker Aerospace in Irvine specializes in engine sensing products, while the other is a defense systems group working on flight controls and heat management, Draskovich said.
The three Parker legacy units are the military flight controls division, after-market service and fluid systems division.
“We’re expecting that with the expanded portfolio, we’re going to have some additional growth opportunities that we’re going to be able to offer to our customer base,” according to Draskovich.
The integration will take a couple of years to complete, according to Draskovich.
“During that time we expect that additional business synergies—new product offerings due to the combined product portfolios, expansion of markets—will continue to grow the business faster than either one would have achieved individually,” the Parker Aerospace vice president added.
‘Sense of Excitement’
Draskovich was upbeat about parent company Parker Hannifin Corp.’s $7.1 billion purchase of Meggitt, which was completed last month and has a wide-ranging impact stretching far beyond Orange County.
“There is just a general sense of excitement about the opportunities and portfolio expansion that bringing these two companies together brings to us,” Draskovich told the Business Journal on Oct. 7.
Company officials talk of the “complementary nature of our products” of the two companies.
“There’s very little overlap in our current product portfolios,” said Draskovich, who is based in Irvine.
Parker Aerospace is a business unit of Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin (NYSE: PH), which was valued around $34 billion as of last week.
Parker Aerospace headquarters are split between Cleveland and Irvine. Roger Sherrard, who is based in Cleveland, is the Parker Aerospace president.
Meggitt, headquartered in Coventry in the U.K., had annual revenue of the equivalent of about $1.8 billion for the 12 months ending June 30, and employs more than 9,000 team members serving customers around the world.
Parker had about 150 jobs in Irvine posted on its website as of Oct. 13.
“We are actively recruiting. We have quite a few positions that are open on the both the legacy Parker and the legacy Meggitt sides of the business,” Draskovich said.
New Wins
Earlier this year, Parker Aerospace, said it landed a $444 million U.S. military contract that will lead to more hiring in the years ahead.
The Defense Logistics Agency and the U.S. Air Force said in July they had awarded the contract to Parker for support work on the “actuators” on A-10, E-3, F-15, F-16, and KC-135 military airplanes.
The majority of actuators are for flight control movements, such as the flaps or the rudder that steers flying aircraft.
