Parkinson Technologies traces its roots to 1871, when machinist Edward Parkinson began a small shop in Rhode Island. Over time, the company evolved from woodworking and textile machinery into a leading name in web processing, winding, converting, and plastics handling. When it celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2021, it already had a diverse group of brands under its umbrella — Parkinson Winders, Marshall & Williams Plastics, Key Filters, and Dusenbery Converting Systems — and a global footprint in plastics, nonwovens, paper, and specialty materials industries.

What sets Parkinson apart is its full-spectrum engineering capability: it offers both turnkey systems and modular components across multiple domains. In melt filtration, its Key Filters line includes continuous belt screen changers (such as the KCH) that allow uninterrupted filtration while maintaining stable extrusion pressure. In plastic film and sheet manufacturing, the Marshall & Williams technologies provide oriented stretching (MDO, TDO, biax) with integrated casting, coextrusion, and web handling. Parkinson Winders delivers winding and web handling equipment — turret, surface, fixed, and unwind stands — engineered for precision tension, web alignment, and high throughput. In converting, the Dusenbery brand contributes slitters, rewinders, single-knife cutters, roll editors, and custom surface or center slitting solutions.

To support customer development and reduce risk, Parkinson operates advanced pilot labs (Extrusion & BIAX labs) in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where clients can test materials, run semi-production trials, and validate process parameters. These labs feature multi-layer dies, casting units, MDO/TDO modules (some reaching TD stretch ratios of up to 10:1 or more), infrared heated zones for narrow web, and full winding and measuring systems. Parkinson also houses a melt filtration lab with a 2½″ extrusion line to test screen changer configurations under real process conditions.

Parkinson serves a broad set of markets: flexible packaging, barrier films, shrink film, film and sheet, battery separator film, PTFE membranes, nonwovens, pipe, compounding, and more. Its strength is in blending deep process knowledge with mechanical precision, enabling customers to scale from prototyping to high-speed production with confidence.