Chairman, 2 Vice Presidents Ousted : Dispute Leads to Shake-Up at Laser Precision in Irvine

A long-simmering dispute among top managers at Laser Precision in Irvine has resulted in the ouster of the firm’s chairman and two senior vice presidents.

Walter M. Doyle, a founder of the 19-year-old company and one of its chief scientists, has resigned as chairman and president.

Norman A. Jennings resigned as senior vice president and general manager of the firm’s money-losing Analect Instrument Division, which makes laser instruments used in chemical analysis.

Also, Donald W. Sypek resigned his post as senior vice president. However, he will continue as manager of the company’s radiation measurement products business.

“What it really boiled down to was a difference of opinion as to the direction of the Analect division,” said Gregory A. Miner, vice president and chief financial officer. “It was a difference that had been evolving for some time.”

Miner said Doyle and Jennings disagreed with other company directors about how the Analect division should be run. “The differences included product decisions and operating performance,” said Miner, who declined to be more specific.

Doyle and Jennings could not be reached for comment.

The management shake-up comes at a time when Laser Precision is making a comeback after five consecutive years of losses from 1981 through 1985. The company has been profitable for the past two years, reporting earnings of $761,000 on revenues of $18.9 million in 1987.

“I’m a little bit surprised this happened now,” said Ramakrishna Kasargood, an analyst with Morgan Keegan & Co., a Memphis, Tenn., investment firm. “The company seemed to be doing OK. It’s earnings were coming on track.”

The company’s New York-based radiation measurement and fiber optics division has been profitable, but the Analect division in Irvine has been losing money for several years because of high research and development costs associated with a recently introduced product line.

“The new product line took longer than usual to get rolling,” Kasargood said.

Laser Precision named David M. Goodman, a member of the executive committee of the board of directors, to replace Doyle as chairman and serve as interim president. The company said it has begun a search for a new president and chief executive.

Miner was chosen to replace Jennings as general manager of the Analect division, which employs 70 people in Irvine. The company employs 130 workers in Utica, N.Y.