VALLEY'S GRC SENDING JOBS TO ARIZONA FACILITY.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Staff Writer

CHATSWORTH - GRC, a laser printer cartridge remanufacturer, said Monday it is transferring some manufacturing operations to a company-owned facility in Mesa, Ariz., over the next two years to take advantage of a better business climate.

The headquarters of the employee-owned company will remain in Chatsworth, as will support office work, said GRC Chairman Robert W. Daggs.

GRC owns SRC, also a cartridge manufacturer, in the Phoenix suburb. About 400 people work at the two companies. Daggs said that as many as 80 jobs could move to Mesa, while a like number will remain in Chatsworth.

The goal is to avoid layoffs, Daggs said. Employees will be given an opportunity to transfer or take early retirement if they are eligible.

The move makes sense, he said, from a cost perspective. Various fees, taxes, housing and energy costs are less in Arizona than here.

And even though California has addressed the workers' compensation issue, work remains to be done on the state's image as a place for business.

``It's going to take a long time for California to be competitive with other states,'' Daggs said.

Harold Decker, Mesa's senior economic development specialist for corporate locates, said Arizona cannot offer much in the way of incentives other than job training. But the lower cost environment is a big deal- closer.

``They would save a lot of money relative to the cost of doing business,'' he said.

Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said that this is not an isolated incident and even though the numbers are not big any jobs lost is a concern.

``We have seen a lot of this. It's not just companies pulling up stakes and shutting down, it's the parallel facility in another state. If they have a facility they may do an expansion and throw more work there,'' he said.

Gregory J. Wilcox, [phone]

greg.wilcox(at)dailynews.com