Inspection to Halt Output at Unit of Ford Aerospace

The Aeronutronics division of Ford Aerospace Corp. is temporarily shutting down much of its production in Newport Beach because of letters from the government that expressed concern about the company’s quality control systems.

The voluntary shutdown will lay off 300 workers over periods stretching from a few weeks to 2 months while inspectors examine the division’s quality control operation.

The Defense Department told the company that it failed to properly inspect parts on three weapons systems, but Aeronutronics has not been ordered by the government to conduct the thorough study, government and Aeronutronics officials said Friday.

“We didn’t feel the infraction was that severe to take any kind of action like this. But we’re impressed at the extent of what they are doing,” said Gay Maund, a spokeswoman for Defense Contract Administration Service Division, an agency of the Defense Department. Maund said the infractions are not serious enough to merit cancellation of contracts by the government.

The government first expressed concern about quality control operations at Aeronutronics in a letter to the company last September. Maund said the company satisfactorily addressed those concerns then.

Last month, the government told Aeronutronics General Manager James Woolnough that circuit boards made by the company were being inadequately inspected. The circuit boards are mounted in Sidewinder and Chaparral missiles and in a target-designation system for the FA-18 fighter jet.

Contracts for these three programs and another contract to make control valves for the Trident missile make up a large part of Aeronutronics’ business.

Maund said Aeronutronics failed to put the boards through an examination using special lighting to see that all parts meet specifications.

Woolnough said Aeronutronics was unaware of the stipulation for the test and will begin conducting it on future products. He said that none of the boards shipped by Aeronutronics have proved to be faulty.

Woolnough said delivery of some weapons will be delayed by the slowdown, but he declined to discuss how much the slowdown and inspection will cost the company. Testing of one of the company’s programs is expected to be completed over the weekend, with production resuming immediately.