SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY : FileNet Corp. Defies Economic Downturn by Expanding Payroll

FileNet Corp. in Costa Mesa isn’t letting concerns about the nation’s economy dampen its hiring plans--at least not yet.

Ted Smith, chairman and chief executive of the maker of computerized document storage systems, said last week that the company plans to hire about 170 people during the rest of 1990, half of them at its Costa Mesa headquarters.

Smith said the company started the year with 650 people and has now grown to 750. He attributed the hiring to new product development and the expected growth in sales as the company’s products, which store images of documents on computers, catch on in the marketplace.

In anticipation of the coming of the “paperless office,” Smith founded FileNet in 1982 to make image-processing systems. And while the market has not materialized as quickly as he expected, Smith said he believes the industry is on the edge of exponential growth.

For the six months ended June 30, the company reported net income of $3.4 million on revenue of $51.1 million, compared to net income of $2 million on revenue of $37.9 million a year earlier.

The company expects to employ about 575 people in Costa Mesa alone by the end of the year, up from about 400 at the start.