GRiD Moves High Volume Portable Manufacturing to Texas and Appoints Two New Vice Presidents
FREMONT, Calif. — April 25, 1991 — GRiD Systems Corp. announced Thursday that it is moving its high volume portable computer manufacturing operations to manufacturing plants in Fort Worth, Texas, operated by its parent company, Tandy Corp.
The move will be effective in July.
GRiD will continue to manufacture its TEMPEST portable computer line, aimed primarily at the federal government market, at its corporate headquarters in Fremont. GRiD, which introduced the first laptop computer in 1982, also will continue the design, development and engineering of new portable computers in Fremont.
GRiD President Alan Lefkof said: ''Our manufacturing volume has been increasing significantly because the laptop, notebook and pen-based computer markets are growing rapidly. We are outgrowing our manufacturing facilities in Fremont.
''Tandy, with its high volume, low-cost production capabilities, is well positioned to help us dramatically increase our market share in coming months.''
Lefkof also announced that GRiD is expanding its research and engineering programs in the pen-based computing area and has appointed two new vice presidents to direct those programs.
Shane Dickey, formerly vice president of engineering for Digital F/X Corp., a manufacturer of multi-media products, has been named vice president of engineering at GRiD. Dickey earlier served as director of engineering at Silicon Graphics where he was responsible for RISC-based, 3-D graphics platform development. Prior to Silicon Graphics, he led development teams at Hewlett-Packard for 13 years with particular emphasis on operating systems and distributed networking.
Jeff Hawkins, formerly GRiD's director of advanced products, was named to the newly created position of vice president of research. Hawkins, who has been with GRiD since 1982, is the architect of GRiD's pen-based computing program.
That program led to the September 1989 introduction of GRiDPAD, the only pen-based computer shipping in North America and Europe, and the development of the GRiDPen software. Hawkins' research also produced the unique algorithms used in GRiD's handwriting recognition software.
Lefkof said: ''With GRiDPAD, we have proven the market for pen-based computers. Now we plan to capitalize on our market lead and expertise by expanding our production in Texas and intensifying our research and development efforts here in Fremont.''
The computer manufacturing relocation to Fort Worth will affect approximately 100 employees in Fremont. Efforts are underway to identify alternative positions within GRiD, Tandy or elsewhere for these employees. To facilitate these efforts, GRiD has retained an outplacement firm to provide job search assistance. GRiD has experienced significant growth in the last three years with employment rising from 450 to more than 1,000.
Lefkof said the vacated manufacturing space in Fremont will be used to expand GRiD's customer support operations and will permit more pilot and pre-production testing before new products are released for volume production.
GRiD designs, manufactures, markets and services laptop, pen-based and desktop computers, electronic mail and networking systems. GRiD, which has a worldwide direct sales and support organization, demonstrates products at 50 GRiD Systems Centers and sells products through value added resellers.
GRiD is located at 47211 Lakeview Blvd., Fremont, CA 94538. GRiD also has offices in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Spain, Sweden, France, Belgium and Denmark.
GRiD is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tandy Corp., Fort Worth. Tandy is a leading manufacturer and distributor of consumer electronics and computers. A New York Stock Exchange Company, Tandy has sales in excess of $4 billion annually.
Note to Editors: GRiDPAD is a registered trademark of GRiD Systems Corp.
GRiDPen is a registered trademark of GRiD Systems Corp.
CONTACT:
GRiD Systems Inc., Fremont
Bob Goligoski, 415/656-4700