Mitsubishi Will Say Adios to Santa Ana

In another defection of manufacturing jobs to Mexico, Mitsubishi Consumer Electronics America Inc. said Thursday that it will transfer its television assembly operations from Santa Ana to Mexicali by the end of the year, eliminating 380 local jobs.

Mitsubishi said the shift will significantly reduce costs and allow it to remain strong in the North American market.

“In order to survive in today’s competitive audio-video marketplace, electronics manufacturers are forced to cut costs wherever possible,” said Suketaka Tachibana, chairman and chief executive of the Consumer Electronics Group, a unit of the U.S. arm of the Japanese electronics giant Mitsubishi Electric Corp.

“We’ve implemented cost-saving measures in every area of our company,” he said. “At this point, our only option is to take advantage of this opportunity to further reduce manufacturing costs.”

Mitsubishi has assembled its line of big-screen televisions at the Santa Ana manufacturing site since 1978. Employment there has dwindled from 645 workers in 1991.

“This is a tremendous blow to the city,” said Patti Nunn, Santa Ana’s economic development manager.

Nunn said the city has worked hard over the years to keep the Mitsubishi plant open through enterprise zone tax credits and assistance with hiring.

“I believe this is global economics,” she said. “There’s only so much we can do.”

Over the years, Mitsubishi has stepped up production at its Mexicali facility. In 1995, it announced plans to add 1,000 jobs to make components for its large-screen TVs.

Mitsubishi executives said at the time that they planned to retain the Santa Ana assembly plant.

“Up until the end of last year, we did not anticipate this,” said Allan Slovin, corporate vice president of manufacturing for the consumer electronics group. “But sales have been horrible.”

Slovin said the unit’s sales dropped about 10% in 1996 from the year before, while its losses widened by 50%.