Toshiba Opens Manufacturing Plant in Irvine

As part of a continuing shift toward making more of its products in the United States, Toshiba America Information Systems Inc. said Monday that it has begun producing components for laptop computers in Irvine.

Toshiba America Information Systems, a U.S. subsidiary of Japanese electronics giant Toshiba Corp., said its new $9-million manufacturing plant will use robots and other advanced manufacturing technology to assemble surface-mounted printed circuit boards for the company’s line of laptop computers.

Seventy-five people work at the plant now, and Toshiba plans to hire 125 more by March, 1992.

Shifting circuit-board production to the United States gives the company more flexibility in the U.S. market, Toshiba officials said, adding that the company plans to buy more parts from U.S. suppliers during the next two years.

“By producing (boards) in the U.S., we have taken a significant step toward eventually classifying our laptop computers and other automated office and communications products manufactured in Irvine as ‘Made in the U.S.A.,’ ” said Kiichi Hataya, president of Toshiba America Information Systems.

The plant is also part of Toshiba’s overall effort to expand its operations in Irvine, where the company employs 900 people. The company has increased its laptop production in Irvine, and it shifted production of facsimile machines and copiers from Japan to Irvine last year.

Toshiba will initially produce as many as 1,000 printed circuit boards monthly at the plant. The company plans to increase that to 5,000 in September and to 10,000 by April, 1991.

Producing the printed circuit boards requires a highly automated surface-mounting technology-- robots select component parts from storage trays and mount them onto the boards.

“We have combined the best of American and Japanese surface-mounting technologies in our facility,” Hataya said. “Our board circuitry will be ‘cleaned’ with the latest aqueous non-polluting process, using no chlorofluorocarbons.”

Chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, have been banned in aerosol sprays because of their damaging effect on the Earth’s ozone layer. The city of Irvine banned CFC use within its borders last July.