Parker Manufacturing Company

The company designed and manufactured a unique sheet-metal shear (a large machine tool for cutting sheet steel) and was able to provide expedient delivery in only 30 days -- a huge advantage over other manufacturers who were taking around two years to make deliveries due to wartime production backlogs.

Co. began as a machine shop at 1746 Berkeley St., Santa Monica, CA producing items ranging from aircraft parts to precision fuses for bombs during World War II.

Co. obtained a franchise to become the West Coast manufacturer and distributor of Kitchen-Kraft steel kitchen cabinets, a product of Midwest Mfg.

Nathan Parker worked there for something less than a year in 1946, in a variety of positions to learn about all aspects of the operation, ranging from cutting steel to painting cabinets to accounting.

Due to the war, machine tool manufacturers were backed up with orders so far that two-year delivery times were not uncommon.

However, the company had Harold Verson, who had been chief engineer in his family's machine-tool manufacturing business in Chicago.

M. Wesley Parker, Jr. showed it off to the owner of another shop, who was impressed, and made him an offer to buy the machine.

[14] The company was unable to obtain castings for the shears due to the fact that all the foundries were backlogged with orders, just as the machine tool manufacturers were.

Verson designed this machine, which would perform multiple operations on sheet metal (e.g., shearing, notching, punching, bending and forming).

The Multi-Max Press was also compact, did not require a special foundation, and could be moved easily in and out of a production line for efficient workflow.

Customers ranged from small firms to large manufacturers, both domestically and abroad, including O'Keefe & Merritt, Baldwin Piano Co., Burroughs Adding Machine Co., Gillig Bros., and Toledo Desk & Fixture Co. As the post-war economy gradually got back to normal in the late 1940s, the lead times for machine tools began to shrink.

The company was already paying the highest wages in the area, and President Parker asked the labor leaders for some time to think it over.

Co., which manufactured and imported restaurant booths, chairs and equipment,[26] Seeco, Inc., a machine shop, Woodland Furniture Mfg.

Co. made other investments, such as purchasing an industrial building in West Los Angeles, which was leased to the Postal Service for mail storage.

The Douglas Aircraft plant also no longer exists in Santa Monica, and the company itself has been absorbed by Boeing.