Archive Cutting 150 More Workers From Staff : Layoffs: The computer parts company’s chief financial officer blames the recession for slumping sales.

In its second round of layoffs in three months, computer products manufacturer Archive Corp. said it is laying off 150 people, mostly among the sales force at a recently acquired division in San Diego.

The company, which makes tape drives that back up data on computers, will consolidate the sales forces of several divisions into a single group and lay off 50 people in Costa Mesa and 100 in San Diego.

“The recession marches on as far as the computer industry is concerned,” said B. J. Rone, chief financial officer. “We are not seeing a strengthening in demand this quarter.”

The ax will fall heaviest at Cipher Data Products, the San Diego subsidiary that Archive acquired for $141.7 million in April, 1990. Rone said Archive Technology Inc., a tape drive manufacturing subsidiary, will take over management of Cipher, which will no longer have an independent sales force.

Craig Turner, president of Cipher, will be laid off later this month and Fred Richardson, president of the Archive Technology subsidiary in Costa Mesa, will become general manager of Cipher.

The layoffs will leave Archive with 2,650 employees, including 450 in Costa Mesa, Rone said. After the layoffs, Archive will have laid off more than 600 of its 3,250 employees since October.

In June, the company laid off 200 employees as part of a restructuring of its operations that contributed to a $50.3-million loss for the third quarter ended June 28.

“I think the Cipher acquisition has been a disappointment for Archive,” said Ray Freeman, president of management consulting Freeman Associates in Santa Barbara. “Given the debt load, the business results aren’t there.”

Freeman said that Archive’s competitors may be benefiting from its troubles. For instance, Tandberg Data Inc. in Westlake Village reported that its sales grew 53% in the quarter ended June 30, to $23 million from $15 million.

Rone said the costs of the current layoffs will not result in a substantial charge against earnings because the company anticipated them in a writeoff in the third quarter.

With a single sales force for its Ardat, Archive Technology and Cipher Data units, Rone said, the company will be able to eliminate unnecessary expenses. He said Cipher will continue to produce its own tape drives.

Rone said the company stands by its expectation that it will be near a break-even performance for the fourth quarter ending Sept. 30. Still, he said he cannot foresee an upturn for computer manufacturers, which are Archive’s biggest customers in addition to computer parts retailers.

“The knowledge we have now compared to six months ago is that the recession is going to be around a lot longer,” Rone said.

Freeman said he expects the tape drive industry to recover in 1992 as the new products based on improved storage technology make their way into the market.