Parker: New products, jobs coming to McCook

Employees at a closing Missouri plant will be offered jobs at McCook’s Parker Hannifin plant, above, or other plants as production of certain products are shifted to McCook. Additional production, coupled with expected retirements, will create a number of job openings at the plant, according to a release from the company. More information is available at www.parker.com.

Bruce Crosby/McCook Gazette

McCOOK, Neb. — Parker Hannifin says it is growing business at the McCook plant, and that’s good news for the more than 200 current employees — and for the community.

New product lines initially will support the automotive market, and more profitable products are being planned for manufacturing here in the coming months, according to a news release from the company.

Yarn reinforced hose, previously manufactured at Parker’s facilities in Manhattan, Kansas, and Red Oak, Iowa, will be made in McCook.

McCook also will be transferring products and processes from a plant in Kennett, Missouri, that will be closing this fall. The 92 employees there have the option to relocate to work at other plants, including McCook.

“Bringing some of the Kennett folks here will grow McCook,” said Justin Hoeke, plant manager. “There will be more children in the schools, more customers for local businesses, and more folks to contribute to the community.”

With an increase in business and about 90 employees who are slated to retire in the next three to five years, Parker will have several job openings. They will be recruiting heavily over the next two years, Hoeke said. The first big wave of hiring will occur in October to get folks trained and ready for full production of its new lines in February.

Hoeke, who grew up in Brady, Neb., appreciates the current and former McCook employees who have made the plant what it is, and for the community’s support of Parker Hannifin and its predecessors over nearly five decades.

“One of my goals when I started has been to make McCook a destination plant,” Hoeke said. “Thanks to employees’ hard work, we’re becoming a place where Parker wants to put business and bring more people into. Our growth is another testament to the type of people we have working here in McCook. They have the ‘Get it done’ attitude that Parker appreciates. Hopefully the company’s most recent investment in McCook takes the plant another 50 years.”

Hoeke is confident the newcomers will feel welcomed in McCook.

“The quality of life here is pretty hard to match,” he said. “We have good schools, low crime rates, friendly people, and lots of amenities. I think all of us who grew up in southwest Nebraska agree this is a special place.”

Hoeke said the McCook plant has had a solid 2019 fiscal year, perhaps its best year ever in terms of sales and earnings.