Costa Mesa Air Bag Maker Gets Big Order

The Costa Mesa-based air bag parts manufacturing unit of Safety Components International Inc. has won orders from a major supplier that should increase production at its Mexican manufacturing plant by 700,000 air bag cushions a year.

Total annual revenue from the contract is about $9.7 million. While operations at the company’s Costa Mesa facility won’t be affected, its maquiladora plant in Ensenada will probably boost employment by about 200 workers to a total of 1,000, said Jeffrey Kaplan, Safety Components’ chief financial officer.

Safety Components recently moved its corporate headquarters from Costa Mesa to Fort Lee, N.J., but kept its metal stamping plant and the administrative, sales and marketing units of its air bag cushion operation in Costa Mesa.