RAMEN REMAKE

One of the first things Victor Sim did as chief executive of Union Inc. was to change the Irvine company's name to Solafide-latin for "by faith alone."

Sim knew he would need some faith. In June, he and a group of investors bought the $30 million a year ramen company, which was on the brink of shuttering its doors.

The noodle maker had lost $3 million annually for a decade under its former owners, who he declined to identify.

It has relatively little market presence-4%-compared to the 90%-plus of the two largest ramen makers, Japan's Nissin Co. and Maruchan Inc., which has its U.S. headquarters in Irvine.

Solafide shipments sometimes were late. Even the company's landscaping was a mess.

And it didn't look like it was going to get easier as other Asian companies, including some in China and Indonesia, are making a bid for their own piece of the U.S. ramen market.