Carlsbad, Calif. After 16 years at the helm of Sunrise Medical, a company he founded in 1983, Richard Chandler has resigned as president, chief executive officer and chairman.

Chandler started Sunrise with a $50,000 personal investment and built it into the world's second-largest home medical equipment manufacturer with earnings last year of $660 million. He also resigned his seat on the board of directors.

"It's a question of execution and executing more effectively," said Steven Jaye, Sunrise senior vice president and general counsel, noting that Chandler's strength has been his strategic vision. But the company needs a CEO experienced in "continuous cost-reduction innovations," Jaye said.

Chandler did acknowledge that, saying in a statement that the company needed someone with a different set of skills. "I would choose others ahead of myself for the CEO position at this point in time," he said.

Murray Hutchison, a Sunrise director since 1983, has been appointed interim chairman, president and CEO until a successor can be found. Chandler will serve as a consultant to Sunrise for three years "to ensure a smooth transition," Hutchison said. At press time, Chandler also announced the formation of his new endeavor, an assistive-device business called Freedom Scientific.

In the last year, Sunrise has gone through a reorganization, cut its work force by 8 percent and eliminated some top positions. It also reached a new bank credit agreement that will ultimately reduce its $120 million credit line to $65 million. And it has engaged Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown to explore the selling of certain assets.

Its actions are showing results, officials said. Sunrise reported net income of $1.5 million, or 7 cents a share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2000, ended Oct. 1. That compared with a loss of $2.7 million, or 12 cents a share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 1999, ended June 30. The first-quarter earnings compared with $3.6 million, or 16 cents a share, for the same period a year ago.