NMB’s Quake Troubles Aids Tandon Corp.

NMB Technologies Inc., a Chatsworth firm that was hit hard by the temblor, benefited from the misfortunes of TSL Holdings Inc., the troubled Moorpark computer maker that was formerly called Tandon Corp.

The day after the quake, with NMB’s main plant reduced to shambles, an NMB executive recalled that Tandon had filed for bankruptcy protection and that its large, modern plant was vacant.

“We made a bid to lease the property within hours, and it’s a good thing we moved fast,” reports Steven Katz, senior marketing administrator for NMB, a supplier of computer components. Several other quake-damaged companies got the same idea, but the NMB bid was accepted.

Within a few days, 150 employees of NMB and two sister companies made the move from a complex on Independence Avenue in Chatsworth to the 100,000-square-foot former Tandon plant near the interchange of the Moorpark and Simi Valley freeways. Two of the three buildings in Chatsworth are still occupied by 350 employees of NMB’s parent, Tokyo-based Minebea Co. Ltd.

The 20-mile move went so smoothly that NMB didn’t miss a single shipment to its customers, Katz said. “The Chatsworth building was very badly damaged, but we’ve already started the cleanup work. We’re definitely going to rebuild and move back.”

TSL Holdings doesn’t own its former headquarters building, but the company will still benefit from NMB’s move. “They left a lot of furniture in the offices when they moved out,” Katz said. “We’re renting it from them.”