$41M order at Ceradyne won’t stave off layoffs

Ceradyne, a Costa Mesa manufacturer that often supplies ceramic body armor to the United States Army, got a $41.1 million order Tuesday to provide ballistic inserts to troops.

The order, part of a five-year contract Ceradyne signed with the Army in 2006, is set to ship out between June and September.

The company recently announced it would lay off workers due to a slowdown in business, but David Reed, the president of North American operations for Ceradyne, said the new order wouldn’t have any impact on personnel.

“The new order we had was in line with our projections for the year, so this is an expected order, and it’s at approximately the level we expected,” he said.

— Michael Miller