Hershey groundbreaking 1The Hershey Company broke ground on a $60 million expansion project earlier this month that will bring more than 100 jobs to its facility in the Humboldt Industrial Park in Hazle Township.

The project involves the installation of a new Kit Kat manufacturing line and will expand the company’s local workforce by 27 percent. The new line, which will increase the facility’s Kit Kat production capacity by 36 percent, is expected to be in operation by the end of 2018. Hershey’s Humboldt facility produces all of the Kit Kat bars that are sold in the United States.

Speaking during an announcement at the Hazle Township plant, Todd Tillemans, president of Hershey’s U.S. business, said, “Our plant here in Hazle Township has long been a high value and high-performing facility. It was clear our investment should be made here. It’s because of the dedication of the people here in the Hazleton area that we have fuel to make this investment and propel Hershey into the future.”

Hershey’s Humboldt Industrial Park facility, which also makes Cadbury products and Hershey’s bars, first opened in March of 1973. CAN DO President Kevin O’Donnell said he’s thrilled to see such a longtime park tenant making such a big investment in Greater Hazleton.

“We’re proud that the Hershey Company shares CAN DO’s commitment of bringing quality, family sustaining, manufacturing jobs to Greater Hazleton. An investment of this magnitude speaks volumes about the dedicated workforce we have here in the Hazleton area that is helping to make this possible. The direct access the Humboldt facility has to Interstate 81 has also been a vital component of Hershey’s success in our area.”

An important safety initiative to acquire emergency notification system services from Send Word Now was discussed at a Humboldt Park Association meeting last month.

Send Word Now provides a service that allows users to receive critical information rapidly via phone calls, text messages and email alerts. The system will be used in the event of an emergency to alert employees in the Humboldt and Valmont industrial parks about situations and the necessary plan of action to deal with it. As an example, the service can be used to alert contacts of impeding dangers such as a road closure due to a traffic accident or worse and provide companies instructions to shelter in place or to evacuate as well as alternate travel routes to take so employees entering or exiting the park can avoid the affected area.

Each company in the Humboldt and Valmont industrial parks will designate company contacts who will receive the messages and they then in turn can alert their colleagues of the situation.

PennStategrantPenn State Hazleton was awarded a $150,000 Invent Penn State seed grant on Monday to help fund a joint program with CAN DO and the Downtown Hazleton Alliance for Progress (DHAP) that will assist entrepreneurs with starting a business.

The grant was announced during Penn State University’s Invent Penn State Day at the Capitol in Harrisburg. Penn State Hazleton Chancellor Dr. Gary Lawler and Jocelyn Sterenchock, CAN DO coordinator of entrepreneurial services, were joined by Senator John Yudichak and Representative Tarah Toohil at the event.

The grant will be distributed in $50,000 increments over a three-year period for the operation of The Hazleton Innovation Collaborative (THInC) program, which will function as a coordinated network of sites and services in southern Luzerne County.  Within this program, Penn State Hazleton will play the important role of education provider and operator of the future downtown Hazleton incubator (THInC Downtown), which will be regarded as a new center for entrepreneurship/innovation education within the community.