Melville aerospace maker moves a subsidiary

Park Electrochemical Corp., of Melville, plans to shut down an aerospace composite materials subsidiary in Connecticut and move its operations to Kansas.

The subsidiary, Waterbury, Conn.-based Park Advanced Composite Materials Inc., will cease activities by the end of April after the company finishes moving its equipment and assets to the new location, Park said in a Thursday news release. The move will not affect the corporate workforce of about 25 at the company's Long Island headquarters. The company has about 600 workers worldwide.

Brian Shore, above, chief executive of Park Electrochemical, said he wants current Connecticut employees to seek employment at the new site. “I hope you will consider applying for relocation to Newton, Kansas,” he said in the news statement. He said, “This plan has been well known by our employees, customers and investors.”

The move to the facility, Park Aerospace Technologies Corp., at the Newton, Kan., airport, “completes the company’s plan to concentrate and consolidate all of its North American aerospace composite materials, parts and assemblies manufacturing, development and design activities” there, the company said.

This is the second such transfer of operations among Park's subsidiaries. The first involved moving a Lynnwood, Wash., operation to Kansas.

The move will add pretax restructuring charges of about $3 million, which will be split between two financial quarterly reports, the company said.

Above, Park's chief executive, Brian Shore.