Company, Director Part

Unit Instruments Inc. said Friday that outside director A. Wade Blackman has quit in a dispute over strategy at the manufacturer, which has undergone a major corporate overhaul.

The company, which makes controls for gases used in computer chip manufacturing, declined to elaborate on the dispute. But it noted in a statement that Blackman’s term as director was to expire next month, and he had not been renominated to the board.

Blackman, president of a private investment firm, had been on the board of Unit Instruments’ predecessor company, Autoclave Engineers Inc. of Pennsylvania, since 1984. That year, Autoclave acquired California-based Unit Instruments.

During the past two years, the company moved its head offices to Yorba Linda and adopted Unit Instruments as its corporate name. The company sold Autoclave’s high-pressure steam sterilizing gear business, along with other holdings.