Lower Costs Help Shrink Deficit at Alpha Micro

Crediting a new product line that is more cost-efficient to produce, Alpha Microsystems Inc. of Santa Ana said it cut its loss to $298,000 in the fiscal first quarter this year from $876,000 a year ago.

The company also said that it laid off 22 people--about 6% of its work force--last week because the manufacture of its new computer systems is more automated and requires fewer workers than production of previous models.

For the quarter ended May 25, the computer company recorded revenue of $11.3 million, 7.6% lower than the year-ago figure of $12.3 million.

Alpha Micro blamed the continuing slump in the computer industry for its losses. Still the company has been able to trim those losses in each of the past four quarters.

The company began chocking up revenue from its new AM1500, its latest entrant into the high-end microcomputer market. The AM1500 can support up to 120 users. The AM2000, which can support twice as many users, begins selling this quarter. Both were unveiled in April.