Apple Says Accord Near on Plant Sale
Apple Computer confirmed Tuesday that it is close to reaching an agreement to sell its Garden Grove manufacturing plant, and industry sources said the buyer is Alps Electric USA, a longtime supplier of computer parts to Apple.
Although Apple officials in Cupertino would not confirm that Alps is the potential buyer, the San Jose-based subsidiary of a Japanese company does meet the criteria Apple established when it announced plans in June to sell the 275-employee facility in response to the persistent slump in personal computer sales. At the time, Apple said it wanted to sell the plant to one of its suppliers. No price has been revealed.
An employee at the Garden Grove plant as well as industry insiders said the deal with Alps, which now sells disk drives and other computer components to Apple, is scheduled to close on Aug. 30, but no papers have yet been signed. An Apple spokeswoman said only: “We are in serious negotiations--and I emphasize serious--with one of our suppliers.”
Under the proposed deal, the spokeswoman said, the Garden Grove plant would continue manufacturing its same products--keyboards and “mouse” devices for the Macintosh personal computer --for sale to Apple.
She said Apple executives expect that many of the workers at the plant would be allowed to keep their jobs, but no agreement has yet been reached with the buyer.
The deal apparently gives both companies what they want.
Apple, which has been shaken by the current dive in personal computer sales, is in the process of retrenching. In June, the company announced that is would eliminate 1,200 jobs and close three of its six factories, including the Garden Grove plant. The spokeswoman said the company now wants to concentrate on designing and assembling its computers rather than attempting to make each of the components that goes into the machines.
Alps Electric, which is headquartered in Otaku Tokyo, Japan, is said to have been looking for a place to establish its first U.S. manufacturing plant. The company has about 85 sales and marketing employees in this country.
