A handful of businesses drove a small gain in local employment among Orange County’s largest foreign-owned companies, which otherwise were flat or down slightly in the past year, according to this week’s Business Journal List.
The list, which ranks the top 40 foreign-owned companies here by local workers, saw a 3% rise in jobs in the past year for a total of 26,065 local workers.
The gainers were in the minority,only six reported increased local hiring. Twelve companies said hiring was flat. Six reported a drop in local workers. The Business Journal estimated employment (without increases or decreases) for 16 companies.
Three companies drove the overall gain, led by clothing maker and retailer Billabong USA in Irvine.
No. 19 Billabong, part of Australia’s Billabong Inter-national Ltd., jumped up from No. 28 on last year’s list. Billabong now has 591 workers here, up 55% from a year earlier.
Billabong has been hiring as it’s added more apparel brands and stores.
Last year, the company bought Hawaiian wetsuit maker Xcel International Inc. for undisclosed terms. In 2004, Billabong bought Hawaiian surf shop chain and clothing maker Honolua Surf Co., which has grown from 19 to 25 stores under Billabong.
The company’s 210-person gain in local workers was the largest on the list.
No. 13 Invensys PLC, which owns three local industrial software makers, saw a 37% jump in hiring to 556 workers and moved up three spots from No. 16.
The company’s Lake Forest-based Wonderware Corp., which makes factory automation software, drove the gain, going from 290 local workers a year ago to 473.
Wonderware has had double-digit revenue growth for the past four years, according to the company.
It’s been hiring software developers, engineers and tech support workers at a rapid pace, said Dottie Sargent, vice president of human resources.
“We place the headcount where it makes the most sense for the business,” she said.
No. 21 Irvine’s Meggitt Defense Systems Inc., owned by Britain’s Meggitt PLC, moved up four spots.
It increased jobs by 37% in Irvine and at San Juan Capistrano’s Endevco Corp.
Meggitt Defense is riding high on a slew of contracts with big defense contractors. Many of the wins are for a long-running program called Future Combat Systems to modernize Army communications and weapons.
“The most important thing was the number of new contracts that Meggitt Defense Systems won over the course of 2007, which built up significant backlog for 2008,” said Charles Panasewicz, vice president of marketing. “We have been trying to hire people in various specialties to help us execute on this new business that we have won.”
Some of the workers it hired include engineers and assembly workers who do quality control, testing and purchasing from suppliers.
Japan Dominates
Japanese companies continue to dominate the list, though it has grown more diverse in recent years.
Among the top 20 companies, seven are from Japan, three from France, two from Germany and one each from Ireland, South Korea, Israel, Britain, Taiwan, Switzerland, Australia and Iceland.
The top 10 companies held their spots from last year.
No. 1 Japan’s Toshiba Corp., which has North American headquarters for four of its businesses in Irvine, saw an estimated 3% rise to 1,610 local workers, led by its Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., which makes and markets portable computers and other gear.
The company didn’t disclose worker counts at its other Irvine units. It has been No. 1 for the past few years.
No. 2 Union Bank of California, a unit of Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. that has its commercial banking headquarters in Irvine, saw local worker counts dip 2% to 1,553 people.
The decline was due to “normal attrition,” according to Scott Connella, market president of commercial banking for Southern California.
“In commercial banking, we’ve had a good year,” he said. “It’s clearly a more challenging business environment, but most of our customers are doing OK.”
The subprime mortgage fallout and its effects on the housing market have hit some bank customers harder than others, according to Connella.
“One place we are seeing weaknesses is in building products and companies that supply to homebuilders and home improvements stores,” he said. “They are seeing a reduction in revenue.”
Despite the tighter credit market, Union Bank hasn’t “had a big change as far as how we are approaching lending,” he said.
“We’ve been fairly conservative all along,” Connella said.
No. 31 Control Components Inc., a maker of computer-run service control valves for oil, gas and electricity utilities, shifted some jobs to sites in other parts of the country.
Control Components, owned by Britain’s IMI PLC, has about 345 workers in Rancho Santa Margarita, down 8% from 375 a year ago.
The shifts are “just lining it up to what the customers needs are in the different industries we serve,” spokesman Robert Bodine said.
The company is gearing up for a rebound next year in local hiring, Bodine said. Control Components currently lists some 40 job openings for engineers, assembly people, programmers and inspectors.
“It’s been another record year for growth for us,” he said.
The company’s valves regulate the flow of gas, electricity and heating oil to homes,but it hasn’t yet felt the effects of slowing homebuilding, Bodine said.
“As the population grows, more people equals more houses, more lights that need to go on and more gas consumed,” Bodine said. “The need for power, especially in the summer, is still going to be there.”
No. 32 Multi-Fineline Electronix Inc., a circuit board maker that’s owned by Singapore’s WBL Corp., reworked its Anaheim operations last year by moving all of its assembly work to its plants in China.
Multi-Fineline, known as M-Flex, saw its local workers decrease by 14% to about 343 people.
The local site is set to be converted into a research and development facility where engineers will make and test prototypes, according to spokeswoman Connie Chandler. n
