AIR-BAG INDUSTRY PUMPS UP; SDI WILL EMPLOY 600 AT PLANT IN MOORPARK.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

An explosive charge is fired every time a vehicle's air-bag system deploys - a tiny burst of energy that is fueling a boom in business for the world's top producer of those pyrotechnic devices.

And the continually evolving uses for air bags inside autos, light trucks and vans are propelling sales even higher for Special Devices Inc. The publicly held company last year manufactured about 36 million of the little devices that initiate the tiny explosions. It expects to boost its annual output of the initiators to 75 million by the end of the century.

Many initiators are produced in a remote canyon in Newhall, but there isn't enough room to expand to meet growing production demands. Company officials considered expanding its Mesa, Ariz., facility and consolidating operations there. Instead, enticed in part by a multimillion-dollar incentive package created by city, state and Ventura County officials, SDI picked a canyon on the fringe of Moorpark for its hub.

``Where the market will go with these things is hard to predict, but we see it growing as new applications are found,'' said Thomas J. Treinen, vice president of administration. ``And that was part of the reason for this whole facility.''

The proposed complex, about three times the size of the old Newhall headquarters, is expected to begin operating two production lines in November. Eight production lines, 1-1/2 more than now operating in Southern California, should be running six months later under company plans.

And there will be room to grow even more. SDI officials already have added 35,000 square feet to the original design, boosting total space to 170,000 square feet in six buildings.

``As we were in the process of planning, our customer demand continued to grow,'' Treinen said. ``It's a good problem.''

The new plant will also house the SDI aerospace division that manufactures explosive charges for tactical missile systems, spacecraft launch vehicles, and military aircraft crew-ejection systems.

With as many as 600 workers on the site by this time next year, SDI will be Moorpark's second-largest employer. The largest is Kavlico, which employs about 1,000 workers manufacturing auto and aerospace components in Moorpark, according to the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce.

Treinen said SDI probably will be hiring more than half of the 600 workers over the next year because many now employed at Newhall may not want to commute from their homes in the Antelope and Santa Clarita valleys. Two job fairs already have been held elsewhere, and one is planned for next month in Moorpark.

Moorpark officials are eager for more local jobs in a community where the 1990 Census found that workers on average faced the longest daily commuting among all in Ventura County households.

``For many years, our community has been plagued by a jobs-to-housing imbalance,'' Mayor Pat Hunter said. ``You want to try and reduce that as much as you can - to give some people an opportunity, as wide a range as you can, to work in the community.

``That is one of the most tangible benefits of this project. The effect that has on the family, the community, is just immeasurable.''

City growing

The community and company have much in common when it comes to expansion.

Moorpark was the fastest-growing city in Ventura County during the 1980s. Another spurt could be around the corner.

SDI created its automotive division in 1989 to apply more than two decades of expertise in pyrotechnic products beyond defense-related markets. Last year the company moved into first place as the largest manufacturer of air-bag system initiators.

``Perhaps the most important news of all is that we believe we have now built our business to a level of efficiency and high-volume production capacity that would make it very difficult for new entrants to compete effectively with our Automotive Products Division,'' said Treinen's father, Thomas F. Treinen, chairman and president of SDI.

``Initiators are not commodities,'' the board chairman continued in this year's annual report. ``They are delicate components of a carefully integrated, technically precise system. Special Devices has already invested the capital and expanded production capacity to remain the leading supplier of air bag initiators in the world.''

A decade ago, SDI was exclusively a defense contractor. It survived defense-industry downsizing by switching its emphasis to the automotive industry.

The success of the transition is reflected in net annual sales, which boomed from $37.4 million in fiscal 1993 to $140.5 million in fiscal 1997. In that period, automotive products moved up from 64.9 percent to 79.6 percent of total sales, according to the company's annual filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

SDI began shipping air-bag initiators less than a year after a federal mandate for all cars manufactured after Sept. 1, 1989, to have driver air bags. Similar requirements for light trucks and vans were phased in from 1994 through 1997.

Some manufacturers are now using the initiators for side air-bag systems and seat-belt retractors. Research is under way for rear-seat air bags and air bags in headliners or even within seat belts.

``Certainly it's a growth industry, despite some of the concerns raised about air-bag safety,'' said David Cole, director of the Office for the Study of Automotive Transportation at the University of Michigan. ``They're looking at things where you can almost have the whole interior of the car inflate.''

Bags may get safer

In response to some deaths from deploying air bags, researchers hope to design a ``smart'' system that can sense the weight and position of passengers. Consumer groups and families of people killed by air bags have urged regulators to develop tougher safety tests and demand air-bag systems.

``It may change the strength of the initiator. It may require more than one initiator per air bag,'' said the younger Treinen.

SDI produces more than 50 different initiators for the four domestic manufacturers of air bags. The company also has a venture with a French corporation to produce initiators for European distribution.

Cole said established suppliers like SDI will remain in a strong position if they invest in technological improvements.

``Nobody is home-free forever in this business. Practically every component of the air bag is going through generational improvements,'' he noted.

New complex compact

While manufacturing sprawls through more than two dozen buildings in the 60,000-square-foot Newhall facility, it will be confined to three buildings on the Moorpark site.

The largest building will be used for assembly and molding. It is just in front of the nine concrete-box bays where blended pyrotechnic fuels will be loaded into initiators that are then welded, the younger Treinen explained.

The third processing building features a dozen bays with 18-inch-thick concrete walls and steel fire doors, where zirconium, titanium hydride and boron fuels will be blended and mixed with oxidizers.

Two new production lines have been ordered and will be the first to operate in Moorpark. SDI will move the Newhall production lines in pairs to Moorpark, where eight production lines are expected to be producing as many as 1 million initiators a week by next summer.

``As those lines are installed and qualified, we will shut down lines in Newhall,'' he said. ``That will be a very large challenge for us in the next year.''

Moorpark's gain of a major employer will be Newhall's loss.

Some SDI workers have scouted Moorpark as their next home or for commuting, as much as 70 miles for some.

``Right now, we've had very low employee turnover, so we haven't had to recruit,'' said Sabra Bennett, human resources director. ``As we get closer to the move, we will probably have to.''

Moorpark city and community leaders are ready to help families find homes and check out schools, services and shopping.

``We will make up packets for people who are interested in moving here,'' said Carolyn Schrimpf, executive director for the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce. ``We include maps and directories and all those tidbits, so they won't think Moorpark is the other side of the world.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1) (Ran in SAC Edition only) SDI Vice President Thomas J. Treinen looks at work on 18-inch-thick walls for an explosives-blending room.

(2) Crews from Commercial Glass Co. of Simi Valley work on the 170,000-square-foot Special Devices Inc. plant being built in Moorpark.

(3) (Ran in Simi and Conejo Edition only) Eric Crivello, an employee of Commercial Glass of Simi Valley, drills holes as he helps build the Special Devices Inc. plant.

John Lazar/Daily News