Dataproducts to Close Plant in San Jose

Dataproducts Corp., a Woodland Hills-based maker of computer printers, said Monday that it will close its San Jose plant in December and lay off the 250 workers there as part of its ongoing restructuring to shrink the company.

“We hope this is going to do it,” company spokesman David Rosenbloom said. “We’re still waiting to see a recovery in the marketplace.”

Dataproducts began a series of cutbacks and consolidations last spring to cope with a weak market. The new layoffs will bring the company close to its goal of cutting employment to 4,000 by year-end from a peak of 5,700 in February.

Rosenbloom said the immediate cause of the shutdown is the expiration this November of a major contract to make printers for IBM. But, he said, Dataproducts also has decided to save money by making a new dot-matrix printer in Hong Kong instead of San Jose.

Losses Predicted

“This is all expected,” said Bob Grandhi, who follows Dataproducts for E. F. Hutton in New York. In the months ahead, he said, “they may have to let some R&D; and marketing people go.”

Grandhi predicted losses of $1 million to $2 million for the current quarter ended Sept. 28 and $12 million for the fiscal year. He said Dataproducts has also been hurt by its own slowness in adopting new printer technologies.

Rosenbloom said the company will try to find other jobs for the displaced employees.