Tempe electronics facility to close; 730 jobs affected

A Tempe electronics-manufacturing facility with 730 employees will be closing within a year because of reduced demand for its products.

Jabil Circuit Inc., based in St. Petersburg, Fla., announced the closure Sunday, saying the Tempe operation is no longer viable.

“Customer demand for the site has been decreasing despite our best efforts to sell business into the site,” Jabil spokeswoman Beth Walters said.

Jabil operates about 90 facilities worldwide and reported $17 billion in revenue last year. The company makes electronics components for original equipment manufacturers in a variety of sectors, including medical, aerospace and de- fense.

Jabil owns a 191,000-squarefoot facility at 615 S. River St., northwest of Loop 101 and University Drive. The plant will be sold once all of the manufacturing is moved to other locations, Walters said.

Many of the 730 local employees will be offered positions at other Jabil locations. All of the workers are eligible to apply for any of the company’s open positions elsewhere, she said.

Jabil’s nine U.S. operations include facilities in San Jose, Colorado Springs, Colo., and McAllen, Texas.

The company took out a halfpage ad in

to try to place its employees with other companies.

Jabil’s local employees, with an average tenure of seven years, have experience in production, supply chain, engi- neering, business management, facilities, finance and information technology.

Jabil established its operation in Tempe in 2005, when it acquired Varian Inc.’s electronics-manufacturing business for $195 million.

Varian got its start in the Valley in 1984 when the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company set up a manufacturing facility for its scientific and medical instruments.

Jabil had as many as 1,200 Tempe employees as recently as 2008.

The company was No. 163 on the 500 list in May. Its key competitors include Flextronics International Ltd., Sanmina Corp. and Hon Hai Precision Industry Corp., according to Hoovers.

Jabil’s stock price closed Monday at $23.38, up 38 cents from Friday’s close.