Data-Design Will Close Anaheim Plant, Lay Off 180 : Shutdown: The ‘mothballing’ of Aeroscientific Corp., a manufacturer of printed circuit boards, is blamed on an industry-wide recession.

After losing money for several years, Data-Design Laboratories Inc. will close its printed circuit board manufacturing subsidiary, Aeroscientific Corp., and lay off its 180 employees, the company said Monday.

Data-Design also said it will move the work performed by Aeroscientific in Anaheim to its circuit board plant in Beaverton, Ore. The shutdown will occur over the next month.

“The closing is a mothballing, and if there is some time in the future when market conditions improve, the plant could open again,” said Alan Steel, vice president of finance at Data-Design.

However, Steel added, there is no guarantee that the plant will reopen or that workers will get their jobs back.

The company said the action was necessary to return to profitability in the midst of a severe recession in the electronics and circuit board manufacturing markets. Aeroscientific makes circuit boards for computers, cellular telephones and other electronic equipment.

The company also moved its headquarters from Rancho Cucamonga to Anaheim last week to save money.

Data-Design lost $15.3 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, compared to a loss of $2.9 million a year earlier. Revenue fell to $77.6 million from $78 million in fiscal 1990. Circuit board revenue from plants in Ireland, Anaheim and Oregon accounted for 66% of revenue in 1991.

The company attributed the losses to a recession in the $5.3-billion printed circuit board manufacturing industry, which has been plagued by increased competition, overproduction and rising costs of new equipment. The company also blamed delays in delivering products, quality problems and several changes of management at the Aeroscientific-Anaheim subsidiary for its losses.

M. Peter Thomas, chief executive of Data-Design, resigned in July after 17 months with the company, and in August Chairman Thomas C. Beiseker, formerly the company’s chief executive, returned from retirement to run the company.

That management turmoil at the parent company contributed to management turnover at Aeroscientific, according to documents filed last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In September, Data-Design received notice from its lenders, Tokai Bank Ltd. and Sanwa Bank California, that it was not in compliance with financial covenants for $14.6 million in loans. The company said the banks may declare a default on the loans this month.

Data-Design has divested itself of most of its non-circuit board business in the past several years and has been searching since May for a buyer for its communications component manufacturing subsidiary in Fremont.

The Aeroscientific subsidiary has been losing money for some time, despite an investment of $13.5 million in new equipment over the past three years. A year ago, the company laid off an unspecified number of workers when it eliminated a second shift at the Anaheim plant. Steel said the company at one time had 300 workers.

Some of the equipment at the Aeroscientific plant will be transferred to Data-Design’s Oregon plant and to a plant in Northern Ireland. The rest of the assets will be mothballed, the company said.