Firm Lays Off 55 Employees

Hitachi Koki Imaging Solutions has laid off 55 employees at its Simi Valley facility, company officials said Wednesday.

The job cuts--about 10% of the company’s local work force--came as part of a restructuring of the printer and copier maker, a company spokesman said.

Employees in the manufacturing, finance and administrative divisions were most affected bythe action last week, said Bill Melow, vice president of marketing.

Until recently, the main product line of the company, which used to operate under the name Dataproducts Corp., was large printers for mainframe computers.

But about 18 months ago the manufacturer--a subsidiary of the Hitachi Koki Co., a member of the $64-billion Hitachi Ltd. empire--redirected its focus to smaller laser and digital copiers and printers, Melow said.