Unisys Kills Expansion Plan

Computer maker Unisys Corp. says it has changed its mind about expanding its manufacturing facility here.

The company said in April that it would move a unit into a medium-size building in this new community of 17,000 in South County. Now, however, Unisys says it doesn’t need the extra space because the big mainframe computers that it builds here are getting smaller.

The company said Monday that it will continue to make the A Series computers in the Rancho Santa Margarita plant and another in Mission Viejo.

Santa Margarita Co., developer of the community, was to have built the factory and leased it to Unisys. The plant would have complemented a Unisys factory in Rancho Santa Margarita that makes the same A Series computers.

The news is a blow to the community developer. About 100 companies moved into Rancho Santa Margarita’s business section in the 1980s, but the recession has dried up relocations. Only retailers are still growing much, says the developer says.

Unisys, too, is feeling the pinch. The third-largest U.S. computer maker is trying to hold down costs because its sales are not growing: They were flat at $2 billion in the latest quarter.

So the company, based in Pennsylvania, has laid off thousands of employees in the past year and closed some plants, actions that cost it $1 billion.