Packard Bell Electronics Inc, whose Chatsworth home was all too close to the epicentre of the San Fernando Valley earthquake, suffered extensive damage to its headquarters, and has had to transfer its administrative, technical-support and production operations to 160,000 square feet of leased space in Westlake Village, about 20 miles from here. According to the Wall Street Journal, until the headquarters was moved over the weekend, much of Packard Bell had to be run from the Chatsworth parking lot, where departments were organised around groups of conference-room tables. The initial damage from the earthquake was also compounded by flooding on Wednesday, when city crews restored water services, which only set off fire sprinklers and flooded the damaged building. Some 70% of its production capacity was temporarily knocked out and much of the work is being transferred to Westlake Village. The quake also spurred the budget personal computer manufacturer to speed up its planned transfer of its technical-support business to Utah, which will now open for business early next month rather than in March. The firm is continuing to search for a new permanent headquarters, which may be out-of-state.
