If you're buying hydraulic components and you haven't checked how long the manufacturer has been in business, you're skipping the cheapest due diligence available. From my perspective, that's not a historical curiosity. It's a procurement tool. And the first name I check is Parker-Hannifin.
Let me be clear: I'm not a chauvin about any brand, and green marketing claims don't impress me. What impresses me is evidence. A company that has existed for more than a century has faced crises that a ten-year-old supplier hasn't even imagined. What I mean is that 'old' isn't a lazy shorthand for quality—it's a proxy for surviving repeated chances to fail.
I say this as someone who learned the hard way. I handle industrial fluid connector and hose orders. Eight years in, I've personally made and documented 31 significant mistakes, totaling roughly $42,000 in wasted budget. Now I maintain our team's pre-order checklist. The first item on that checklist is not a part number. It's company history.
How Long Has Parker-Hannifin Been in Business?
The short answer: Parker-Hannifin has been in business since 1917. That's about 108 years as of 2025. Arthur L. Parker founded the Parker Appliance Company in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1964, it merged with Hannifin Corporation to become the Parker-Hannifin company that appears on your supplier forms today.
So when someone asks how long has Parker-Hannifin been in business? I don't treat it as trivia. I treat it as a filter. It tells me the company has survived something close to every economic shock an industrial enterprise can experience.
What 108 Years Actually Tells You
I'm not an engineer, so I can't speak to internal metallurgy or exact seal compounds. What I can tell you from a procurement perspective is that a long company history is a form of validation you can use without being an expert.
1. Crisis Survivability
Corporations, like ecosystems, experience die-offs. The companies that survive are not always the biggest; they're the most adaptable. Parker-Hannifin has been through the Great Depression, the 2008 recession, and the COVID supply-chain crisis. If a company can survive a severe drop in commercial aerospace and still ship fittings, that's a signal.
2. Standards Evolution
Another thing I check before a major order: whether the manufacturer's engineering standards have moved with the market. Parker has had to adapt to ISO, SAE, DIN, and tougher environmental regulations. That means their products are likely designed around current requirements, not old drawings. Is that guaranteed? No. But it's more likely than with a supplier that hasn't had to unlearn anything.
3. Footprint and Field Support
In energy and mining, global footprint matters. Parker-Hannifin's presence isn't just a corporate campus. It's distribution channels and service points where the work actually happens. I've seen their components in places where the only support network is a distributor who answers the phone at 2 a.m. That footprint is part of the company history.
The Butterfly Question
You hear the question all the time: 'how does a caterpillar turn into a butterfly?' The answer isn't 'it grows wings.' The caterpillar breaks down into a kind of cellular soup, and the butterfly builds itself out of that soup. That's a useful way to think about the Parker-Hannifin company. It is not a straight line from 1917. It's been formed, dissolved, and rebuilt through acquisitions, divestitures, and reorganizations. What emerges is still Parker-Hannifin—but it's different from the company that existed in 1950.
That flexibility is the real reason history matters. A company that has reinvented itself before is more likely to do it again.
Isn't This Just Brand Nostalgia?
Yes and no. If you're buying a commodity part with a standard footprint, maybe any ISO-certified supplier can work. I've ordered generic fittings that performed fine. But when a component goes into a hydraulic system on a mining site, the cost of 'maybe' is too high.
I made that mistake once. I ordered a $3,200 lot from a lower-priced supplier because it 'looked fine' on the spec sheet. When the installation team went to assemble, the thread tolerances didn't match the catalog. Every fitting had to be pulled. That error cost about $6,800 in redo and added a one-week delay. I knew I should have verified the manufacturer's track record, but I thought 'what are the odds?' That was the one time it mattered.
This isn't a knock on every new supplier. It's a warning about betting unproven capability against a company with a century of field data. I'm not a chauvin about Parker-Hannifin. I'm a chauvin about the question. And if you ask me, 'green' promises are not a substitute for a track record.
What I Would Tell a Customer
I'd rather spend five minutes explaining this to a customer than deal with mismatched expectations later. An informed customer asks better questions and makes faster decisions. So if you're starting a greenfield project or replacing a failed supplier, ask the history question first. Then dig into performance specs.
According to Parker-Hannifin's official history and investor materials, the company has consistently invested in new manufacturing and engineering capabilities. Their scale is one reason they can maintain certifications across so many product lines. But the deeper point is simpler: a company that has been in business for 108 years has data. That data is the product.
The next time someone asks me how long has Parker-Hannifin been in business? I answer with a number. But what I'm really hearing is: 'can I trust this Parker-Hannifin company to be here when I need them?' Based on the record, and from my own checklist, the answer is probably yes. That's not sentiment. That's procurement judgment.
Now go check the same thing for every other critical supplier. Then your checklist is complete.