Hawthorne manufacturer OSI Systems Inc. will vacate its Camarillo plant by April 30 to consolidate operations at its headquarters, company officials reported to the state’s Employment Development Department earlier this month. The Camarillo plant houses the operations of an OSI unit that designs and manufactures optical sensors and other products for military, aerospace, industrial, healthcare and homeland security customers. OSI also makes medical monitors and security scanners. Ajay Vashishat, vice president of OSI Systems, said by moving operations to Hawthorne, the division will be closer to customers and the Los Angeles International Airport. OSI inherited the Camarillo location through an acquisition it made in 2004, he added, and the lease was coming up for renewal. “It just made a lot of sense from the perspective of serving customers better, and being more effective and more competitive,” Vashishat said. He said the company’s three divisions are growing and the division is not closing, just moving. The move will affect 118 people who work at the Camarillo facility. Vashishat said he didn’t know at this time whether any of those laid off will be offered positions at OSI headquarters, but did say the move will require the company to expand production there and hire new people in the same kind of work as is being done in Camarillo. “We’re going from a leased facility to an owned facility where we have more flexibility to grow,” he said.
