35 Laid Off as Kaypro Sales Slow

SAN DIEGO — Blaming slower-than-expected sales of its line of personal computers, Kaypro Corp. said it has laid off 35 workers over the last two weeks, a 10% reduction in its work force.

Hit by mounting losses, Kaypro has steadily reduced its payroll over the past two years, most recently by letting nearly 100 workers go in April, a 30% work force reduction. The current employee count of 300 contrasts with Kaypro’s 576 employees as of Oct. 1, 1986.

In a prepared statement issued Wednesday, the beleaguered Solana Beach-based manufacturer blamed the slower-than-expected sales on “seasonal factors and the recent semiconductor shortage.” Most of the employees let go held manufacturing positions at Kaypro’s Solana Beach plant, the statement said.

Kaypro President David Kay, who was unavailable for comment Wednesday, predicted at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in March that a continued shortage of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chips would slow production and have a dramatically bad impact on the company’s financial results this fiscal year.

Kay’s prediction has rung true. For the nine months ended in May, Kaypro reported a loss of $4.4 million on sales of $58.9 million, contrasted with a profit of $1.3 million on sales of $85.1 million over the same three quarters the previous year.