Computer Firm Restructuring Eliminates 86 Jobs

Computer Consoles Inc. said Thursday it has laid off 86 employees as part of a restructuring of its Irvine-based computer products division to focus on profitable operations and reduce manufacturing and marketing of smaller, less expensive computer systems.

Just 32 of the terminated employees worked in Irvine, however. The rest were based in sales offices worldwide. The division employs 410 people.

John F. Cunningham, chairman and chief executive officer of the company, which makes computer systems and products in Waltham, Mass., said the employees who were laid off received a month’s salary, plus a sum based on their length of service in the division, which opened its Irvine facilities five years ago.

Two years ago, the company began an ambitious diversification plan for the Irvine unit, which included building a $10-million, 150,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Irvine Spectrum, the city’s newest high-tech office and industrial center.

But the division lost more than $20 million last year and nearly $7 million in the first six months of this year, Cunningham said.

He said the restructuring should enhance operating results at the company, which reported earnings of $2.5 million in the first six months, after posting losses in 1985 and 1986 totaling $45 million.