Feb. 25--Redlands will lose a major employer next month when The Hershey Co. closes its distribution center and relocates its regional warehousing operation to Utah, which offered the confectioner several million dollars in incentives.

Employees at the distribution center, along with city, county and state officials, received letters more than a month ago informing them about the decision. About 90 people will lose their jobs when the separations begin on or about March 15.

The warehouse is operated by Genco Supply Chain Solutions, one of the country's largest third-party distribution operators, and almost all the workers are employed by Genco, not Hershey.

The letter to employees, which begins with the salutation "Dear Teammate," makes no mention of any severance package. Kirk Saville, Hershey's senior director of corporate communications, said any severance deals would be at Genco's initiative.

A spokesman for Genco, which is based in Pittsburgh, did not return calls seeking comment.

The decision to relocate its Western states distribution hub to Ogden, Utah, came after Utah awarded Hershey a tax-rebate incentive of up to $2.6 million, according to a story that appeared Sunday in the Deseret Morning News, one of Utah's largest newspapers. Ogden, about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City, is offering about $3 million in road, rail and utilities improvements, the newspaper reported.

Hershey last month reported a profit of $82.2 million in its most recent quarter, or 36 cents per share.

The 590,000-square-foot distribution center on San Bernardino Road opened in late 2001. At the time, Redlands officials described the development as "the right project in the right place."

Redlands spokesman Carl Baker declined to discuss the Utah incentives.

"We're aware of the situation, and we're talking with Hershey," Baker said. "We want to do what we can to keep them."

Hershey spokesman Saville said the move is part of a three-year plan announced in 2007 to realign the company's manufacturing and distribution.

Part of that strategy for the Hershey, Pa.,-based candy company has been more production in Monterrey, Mexico, and less in the U.S.

Saville declined to discuss how moving its distribution hub from Redlands to Ogden fit with that realignment.

-----

To see more of The Press-Enterprise, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.PE.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

HSY, GSTL,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.