DETROIT — Parker Hannifin Corp. plans to close an Arkansas plant that supplies auto air conditioning assemblies to DaimlerChrysler AG.
The company’s Trumann, Ark., plant was operating below capacity and no improvement was expected, according to a statement by Tom Bergeron, a company vice president.
The work will be moved to other plants.
Parker Hannifin, which is based in Cleveland, has reduced its exposure to automotive parts making but continues to focus on automotive automation and other manufacturing.
Its global auto parts business generated only about $294 million of its global 2004 sales of $7.11 billion.
The closing of the Arkansas plant is a blow to economic officials who during the past five years have brought auto parts plants to a manufacturing corridor in the northeast part of the state. Their goal was to cap that effort with an automotive assembly plant.
The Trumann plant employs 232 hourly workers. It is scheduled to close by Oct. 1.
