Japan’s TDK Electronics Corp. plans to close its Irvine plant in April, lay off 200 people and relocate up to 150 others to Anaheim.
The move is part of a shift away from manufacturing in Orange County by TDK. The company’s new facility in Anaheim, set to open in January, is expected to focus on packaging and distribution of compact disc drives and other computer products.
The Irvine plant, which produces electronic components, cassette tapes and diskettes, has been in operation since 1973. Electronics production is set to stop at year’s end, according to company officials, with the Irvine site’s other operations set to wind down in the first quarter.
“The recording media industry has really been at a crossroads during the past few years due to the ever changing technology in the field,” Director of Human Resources Robin McConnell said. “We’ve decided to change our focus in California from manufacturing to designing and packaging hardware to keep up with the times.”
The Irvine facility, which features two large warehouses used to store many of the cassettes and components, is too big for the company’s packaging and distribution operation, McConnell said.
TDK Electronics, a unit of Tokyo-based TDK Corp., expects to transfer both production and business employees to Anaheim. No production is set to take place at the Anaheim plant during its startup, but research and development operations are planned down the line. Most of the products handled there will be produced under contract for TDK.
“TDK has always solely manufactured, packaged and distributed all of its products,” McConnell said. “It was a difficult decision to go in this direction, and this is the first time outside partners have been involved.”
The company first got started packaging computer products under its brand last year. Since then a few products have hit the stores, McConnell said.
TDK plans to continue making electronics, cassettes and diskettes at its plants in Asia. The company’s Georgia plant is set to continue producing videocassette tapes, and will now serve as the company’s only tape manufacturing plant in the U.S.
Several of the employees scheduled to be laid off at the Irvine location have been with the company since the building opened more than two decades ago, McConnell said. TDK is bringing in outside job consultants and set up several job fairs to help its employees find new positions, she said.
“The overall sentiment of the employees is one of mixed emotions,” said Jason Dunn, a general accountant at the Irvine plant. “The loyalty to this company is very strong and people are sad to leave, but at the same time they understand the changing industry.” n
