Ducommun to Consolidate Its Offices in Cypress

Ducommun, parent of one of the nation’s largest electronics distributors, will move its corporate headquarters to Cypress from downtown Los Angeles later this summer, the company said Monday.

The move to Cypress, scheduled to be formally announced later this week, is part of an effort to consolidate the company’s electronics and aerospace operations and improve management controls. Until the move, the corporate staff was housed separately from Ducommun’s president, Donald Bell, as well as executives of the company’s major operating unit, Ducommun Electronics Group.

Ducommun’s Electronics group moved to Cypress about two years ago, bringing with it about 300 jobs. The company’s aerospace operations were already based in Orange County.

The latest move will require the transfer of about 35 management and administrative employees, the company said. Ducommun currently employs about 2,800 workers worldwide, including 750 in Orange County.

With the move, Bell will be able to exercise direct control over the company’s entire operation from the Cypress offices that he has maintained in his earlier capacity as president of the electronics group. He was named president of the parent corporation in February.

“We can be more effective by being closer together,” Bell said. “Before, a lot of time was spent traveling between Cypress and downtown Los Angeles.

Last week the company reduced the 20-cent quarterly dividend that it has paid since 1984 to 5 cents. The company said the reduction, which follows a $19.6-million loss in 1985, will save about $2 million annually that could be better be spent to fuel growth.