SPECIAL DEVICES' SUCCESS IS NEWHALL'S LOSS.

Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Daily News Staff Writer

In the early '90s, Special Devices Inc., was one of hundreds of Southland defense contractors crippled by a declining industry.

Now Newhall-based SDI is the prototype for troubled military support industries eyeing a conversion to commercial endeavors.

The down side locally is that success has cost the Santa Clarita Valley this thriving business. SDI plans a relocation in two years to Moorpark, taking with it 500 jobs and a potential for 500 more.

SDI is among the two leading manufacturers of the tiny pyrotechnic devices that activate automotive air bags. With air bags becoming standard in cars and optional for front and rear passengers, business is booming - to the tune of $56.5 million in sales during the first nine months of this fiscal year.

``It's been a real success,'' SDI's chief executive officer, Thomas Treinen, said in an interview this week about the conversion in five years from aerospace to commercial manufacturing.

``We are . . . the largest producer of initiators of air bags in the world.''

Third-quarter results for SDI's Automotive Products Division show a 19 percent increase in the number of initiators sold.

Now, after nearly 40 years on a plot in Placerita Canyon surrounded by Angeles National Forest land, SDI is preparing to move to 300 acres in Moorpark's industrial park. Grading will begin next month for a state-of-the art $18 million complex, approved last week by the Moorpark City Council.

Attracting SDI - with 500 jobs initially and perhaps double that many by 2010 - is a coup for Moorpark with its population of about 25,000, about one-sixth the size of the Santa Clarita Valley.

Treinen said the relocation will be accomplished in phases and end late in 1998.

``We needed a bigger facility to take care of our planned growth,'' he said. ``We're limited here in what the county will allow us to build. We looked at various sites, and Moorpark turned out to be the best in the big picture.''

Treinen said he expects most employees to stay with the company, but said workers from the Antelope Valley and other points remote from Moorpark probably would need to move.

``We're hoping that most of the people will go with us,'' he said.

SDI, situated on privately owned land on the edge of the Angeles National Forest, considered a number of local sites, including the former Lockheed research facility in Valencia, before settling on Moorpark, where some key employees live.

Mike Haviland, Santa Clarita's economic development director, said city officials tried unsuccessfully to persuade SDI to stay in the area.

``We went out and talked to them. The city manager and the mayor tried,'' Haviland said. ``They listened to our story, but didn't make a commitment. When we followed up, they had decided to move. I don't know what happened.

``They're the kind of industry we want to see here,'' he added. ``They're clean. They're growing dramatically. They've got solid contracts. They're a good employer.''

SDI hopes to sell its Newhall property, an industrial site somewhat out of place among high-priced homes in Sand and Placerita canyons that back up to the forest.

SDI had considered moving its headquarters to its Mesa, Ariz., facility, but was persuaded to stay after meetings with California's Red Team for economic retention and representatives of local and county agencies and the state's Trade and Commerce Agency and the Department of Transportation.

In Moorpark, SDI plans to increase its work force by about 500 employees in shipping, manufacturing, engineering and technical work and other jobs, project manager Ed Ball said.

Included in the move is SDI's Aerospace Division. The division designs and manufactures devices, similar to the air bag activators, that are used in tactical missile and military crew escape systems. Third-quarter sales in the division were $15.9 million, compared with $22 million in the same period of 1995.

Treinen blamed the reduction on expired contracts with two missile programs and delayed shipments.