Mitsubishi Plant Bringing 45 Jobs Into Santa Ana : Manufacturing: A switch in TV circuit board production from Singapore to headquarters here will begin next month.

Mitsubishi Consumer Electronics America Inc. said Thursday that it is transferring the production of projection TV circuit boards from a Singapore plant to its headquarters in Santa Ana.

The move is expected to generate up to 45 new jobs for assembly line workers, technicians and engineers when the manufacturing is up and running later this year. The company has had to import the circuit boards ever since the projection TVs were first assembled in Santa Ana in 1982.

“We think it is smart to build the components in the area that you serve,” said Tim Trujillo, executive vice president of administration for the company. “This is a key element. The circuit boards are the electronic brains in a projection TV. This will reduce our lead time, cut our costs and allow us a lot more flexibility.”

The company is in the final stages of converting a former color TV assembly line at its factory, at 2001 E. Carnegie Ave., to circuit board manufacturing. The first circuit boards are expected to be made at the facility in early June, Trujillo said.

He declined to reveal how much the company spent on refurbishing the facility but called it “a very significant financial investment.”

The expansion will give the company a total of 470 employees in Santa Ana. Mitsubishi Consumer Electronics also makes color TVs and mobile phones at a plant in Braselton, Ga. A sales and marketing sister company, Mitsubishi Electronics America Inc., is based in Cypress.