Micronics Plant Shuts Down

Beleaguered Micronics International, a unit of La Jolla-based Precision Aerotech, has shut down its Brea defense plant and laid off more than 100 employees after the Defense Department refused delivery of a crucial missile component that officials said fails to meet quality standards.

The plant was closed Tuesday after Micronics officials were told by the Defense Contract Administration Service in a letter Monday that the Pentagon will no longer accept delivery of the component, used in several major tactical missile systems, because tests had proven them to be faulty.

“Micronics has not been able to certify that the devices for the missiles can meet specifications,” said Gay Maund, a spokeswoman for the DCAS regional office in El Segundo. “Until they do get up to standards, we can’t accept them.”

Micronics is the Pentagon’s sole supplier of a critical missile firing mechanism used in Phoenix, AAMRAM, Standard, Sidewinder, Sparrow and other missiles. With Micronics no longer making the $4,500 part, production on those missile programs will be at least temporarily interrupted.

The Defense Department is considering other suppliers for the component, DCAS officials said.

Micronics has been under fire since last year, when the Defense Department disclosed that it had begun a criminal investigation of the company. The investigation, which is continuing, is focusing on the firm’s alleged use of a substandard production process in making a switching and arming mechanism for missiles.

In October, Precision Aerotech said a Pentagon investigative agency had subpoenaed records of Micronics that involved production of the missile devices.

Also last year, the General Accounting Office said faulty manufacture of the part had forced the Navy to mothball 500 Phoenix air-to-air missiles worth $425 million. Failure of the part, called a fuse, which is used to prevent premature firing of the missile and also to fire it, renders the missile useless, the Navy has said.

Precision Aerotech officials on Wednesday repeated earlier claims that the parts are not faulty.

“Micron has been making the same product for over 20 years,” G. Addison Appleby, chairman and chief executive of Precision Aerotech, said in an interview. “There has never been a known failure of one of our devices” after installation in a missile.

Appleby said he was surprised be the DCAS action because, in May, the agency had informed the company that the missile devices met specifications.

“We think this whole thing is a smoke screen to cover up for some initial errors” by Pentagon investigators, Appleby said. “There are careers on the line, and it’s easier for them to harass a company and force it to close its doors.”

DCAS officials said the Pentagon’s action should not have taken Micronics by surprise.

“This has been going on for a while,” Maund said. “We have sent our best quality control people out there to help them come up to specifications and meet our requirements.”

DCAS officials are scheduled to meet with Micronics representatives today to discuss the contract. Maund said the agency’s actions affect Micronics contracts valued at nearly $34 million.

Appleby said the DCAS did not require Micronics to close the plant. But, because the device is the only product manufactured at the plant, there was no reason to keep it open.

“We let 100 people go yesterday evening,” Appleby said. “We still have a small group at the plant closing things up. Perhaps we can open up the plant again someday, but the forces at DCAS may be too strong.”