Advertisement

2 Technology Companies Announce Layoff of 130 Workers in Cost-Cutting Moves

Share
Times Staff Writers

Two technology companies that are trying to turn around money-losing operations on Wednesday announced the firing of 130 employees in the West San Fernando Valley.

Seventy of the dismissals will come during the next two months at the Canoga Park plant of Informatics General, a software company acquired this month by Dallas-based Sterling Software. The other 60 firings occurred on Friday at Datametrics, a Chatsworth-based manufacturer of printers and chart-making devices for the military.

The Informatics and Datametrics cutbacks are the latest in a series this year by computer-related and other technology businesses in the Valley area, including such major employers as Tandon, Dataproducts and Computer Memories. The layoffs have been caused largely by the sluggishness of the personal computer market, the loss of major contracts and the relocation of manufacturing operations to the Far East to cut costs.

Advertisement

Systems Group Restructured

Sterling officials said they fired 94 employees of the Informatics Corporate Systems Group, including 24 in sales offices across the nation and the 70 let go in Canoga Park, as part of an effort to restructure the unit.

Ray Hannon, assistant to Sterling Software’s president, Sterling L. Williams, said the dismissals will enable the group to turn a profit this year.

Without the cutbacks, Hannon said, the corporate systems group, which develops and markets software for companies with large computer systems, would have lost $100,000 this year. After the cutback, 120 workers will remain with the group in Canoga Park.

The new firings are the second major round of dismissals by Sterling in two months. In July, the company said that nearly all of the 65 employees in Informatics’ Woodland Hills headquarters will be fired by the end of October.

Sales Declined

Datametrics said it fired 60 workers because of declining sales. The dismissals, which leave the company with 222 workers, came in the manufacturing, engineering and administrative divisions.

The Chatsworth-based company makes high-speed printers and plotters used primarily in tanks, on ships and in jet fighters.

Advertisement

“We were expecting business to come in a little faster than it did,” said Keet O. Johnson, chief financial officer. “Employee levels had to be more in line with revenues.”

Datametrics reported Wednesday a sharp loss for its third quarter ended July 31. The company lost $794,232 on sales of $3 million over the period.

During last year’s third quarter, the company reported profits of $219,019 on sales of $3.3 million.

Employees at both Informations and Datametrics will receive severance benefits.

Advertisement