Western Digital of Irvine, AFG Join Fortune 500 List
If Rust Belt companies had cause to celebrate their strong resurgence last year, so too did many of California’s high-technology companies.
Paced by torrid exports and surging demand for new products, the high-tech manufacturers showed the greatest improvement among the 41 California concerns on Fortune magazine’s latest ranking of the nation’s top 500 industrial concerns.
“The recovery for the computer and electronics sectors has been very strong,” said Joseph Wahed, chief economist for Wells Fargo Bank.
Two Orange County companies made their debuts on the list. Glass manufacturer AFG Industries placed 488th and computer maker Western Digital grabbed the 499th spot.
In late March, however, AFG closed its corporate headquarters in Irvine and moved the operation to Fort Worth. AFG had sales last year of $488.4 million.
Irvine-based Western Digital barely cracked the list, with $462.5 million in sales.
Western Digital Chairman Roger W. Johnson said Wednesday that there are benefits to making the Fortune roster.
“I think it’s mostly a perception, but a lot of times the perception is important. It gives you more visibility,” Johnson said.
“It’s very important to our employees to understand the kind of success they’ve achieved,” he continued. “And it’s important to the investment community. Our company has grown so fast that it has not really been recognized (by Wall Street).”
Giant oil companies dominated the top of the list, with Chevron, Occidental Petroleum, Atlantic Richfield and Unocal holding four of the five top spots among California companies.
Computer manufacturers were strong across a wide spectrum of products. Apple Computer, the Cupertino-based pioneer in personal computing, jumped 38 spots to become the 152nd-largest company on the Fortune 500 list. The company has had strong sales of its Macintosh computers, particularly new models aimed at business markets.
Mainframe computer maker Amdahl climbed to the 231st spot from 310th, as sales climbed 56%. Amdahl also starred in the profit department: Its gain of 249% was the biggest in the computer industry.
Tandem Computers, whose machines are used mainly in transaction processing, jumped to 318th from 365th. And 6-year-old Sun Microsystems, a maker of scientific work stations, vaulted onto the list for the first time as No. 463, with a 156% increase in sales. Atari also broke onto the list as No. 484, as sales climbed 91%.
The state’s largest computer concern, Hewlett-Packard, increased its ranking only slightly, to 49th from 51st. Overall, the 25 U.S. computer companies listed by Fortune posted a median sales increase of 16% and a median profit rise of 27%.
Others Move Higher
California’s semiconductor companies, riding the surge in computer and other electronic equipment sales, showed big gains. Intel--the Santa Clara supplier of the hot 80386 microprocessor for top-of-the-line IBM personal computers--starred, becoming the 200th-largest industrial concern last year, up from 256th the year before.
Intel thus edged out rival National Semiconductor, which itself climbed to 204th from 227th. Advanced Micro Devices jumped strongly to No. 328, from 436, on the strength of its acquisition of Monolithic Memories last August. Still, the struggling company posted a loss of $48 million last year.
Seagate Technology, which supplies disk-drive memory storage devices for personal computers, surged to a ranking of 335, from 481.
The acquisition of Bear Creek propelled Shaklee, the San Francisco direct-sales vitamin and personal care products company, back onto the Fortune 500 after an absence of several years. Shaklee was 442nd.
Other California newcomers in cluded Magnetek, 419, and Homestake Mining, 471.
Lockheed, California’s fourth-largest public company, maintained its rank as the nation’s 30th-largest, while Northrop slipped to 69th from 64th, and Litton Industries fell to 96th from 83rd.
FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES: COMING AND GOING
Newcomers to the 500
1987 Sales Rank Affiliated Publications: 486
AFG Industries: 488
Allegheny Ludlum: 350
Apollo Computer: 454
Aristech Chemical: 344
Atari: 484
Avery: 426
Coca-Cola Enterprises: 126
Dixie Yarns: 438
Envirodyne Industries: 493
Faberge: 467
Fisher Scientific Group: 345
Great Lakes Chemical: 481
Grow Group: 480
Guilford Mills: 461
Harley-Davidson: 398
Harvard Industries: 449
Henley Manufacturing: 423
Homestake Mining: 471
Jepson: 464
Kimball International: 492
Knoll International: 191
Magnetek: 419
Marion Laboratories: 430
Newell: 386
Ohio Mattress: 429
Reynolds & Reynolds: 447
Schulman (A.): 498
Sun Microsystems: 463
Toro 469
Western Digital: 499
Displaced from the 500
1986 Sales Rank
Allen Group: 496
Alumax: 180
Amalgamated Sugar: 472
American Motors: 113
Anchor Hocking: 368
Anderson Clayton: 292
Atcor: 483
Barnes Group: 486
Celanese: 134
Chromalloy American: 352
Clevite Industries: 484
Collins & Aikman: 278
Constar International: 458
Dayco: 327
Diamond-Bathurst: 474
First City Industries: 401
Foster (L.B.): 455
Genesco: 450
Heileman (G.) Brewing: 267
Hughes Tool: 356
Katy Industries: 499
Kenner Parker Toys: 467
Kidde: 145
Lancaster Colony: 495
Lear Siegler: 156
Michigan Milk Prod. Assn.: 494
Monfort of Colorado: 216
Moore McCormack: 480
Nacco Industries: 429
Nashua: 381
NVF: 279
Reichhold Chemicals: 367
Rexnord: 281
Robertshaw Controls: 490
Rochester & Pittsburgh: 500
Sheller-Globe: 322
Southwest Forest Industries: 394
Staley Continental: 132
Tracor: 404
Winn Enterprises: 295
Wisconsin Dairies Cooperative: 482
