SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY : Camintonn Plant to Build Computer Memory Devices

Camintonn Corp., a maker of components for computer workstations, opened a new manufacturing plant at its Irvine headquarters to make memory-enhancement devices for personal computers.

Bosco Sun, chief executive of the company, said the 12,000-square-foot plant, once fully staffed, would add about 15 people to the company’s roster of 40 employees.

For the past 10 years, the company has built memory components for workstations made by computer giant Digital Equipment Corp., but it recently expanded into the PC market with the establishment of its Z-RAM division.

“We’re expanding in the computer industry, and so we’re going against the trend,” Sun said.

The plant, which includes automated equipment that mounts computer chips on plastic circuit boards, can make 1,500 to 2,000 circuit boards a day, Sun said.

The company produces memory add-on boards for computers made by International Business Machines Corp., Compaq Computer Corp., AST Research Inc., Toshiba Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Digital.

Camintonn was acquired in 1986 by computer-maker AST Research Inc. in Irvine. Sun led an employee-buyout of the company for an undisclosed price in March, 1989, after AST decided to emphasize its PC systems-manufacturing business instead of its traditional add-on board business.