Buck Knives, a family-owned business based in El Cajon, Calif., is considering Bend as a possible location of a 140,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.

Enticed by lower costs of hydroelectric power and labor in Oregon and ”all of the things that have to do with the big costs from the government side of things,” the company could bring as many as 300 manufacturing jobs with it, according to Roger Lee, executive director of Economic Development for Central Oregon.

The company’s other options are moving to Post Falls, Idaho, or staying in San Diego County – if the state of California can offer more worthwhile incentives to stay, said C.J. Buck, president and CEO of Buck Knives.

The company’s vice president of operations, Phil Duckett, plans to meet with California congressmen, local utilities and the county board of supervisors this week.

”We are evaluating things right now,” Buck said. ”We are giving California a chance to see what they can do for our operating expenses in a number of different areas.”

Besides negotiations with California, the company’s decision also hinges on the sale of its 182,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in El Cajon, which has been on the market since November.

”It’s very preliminary,” Buck said. ”Our plan was really to sell our building and then that would be the key determination of what we’d be doing.” The soonest the company would relocate is two years, Buck said.

In the mid-90s, Buck Knives’ sales fell from $48 million in 1995 to a little more than $40 million in 1996. This year, Buck said revenue is forecast to be in the mid $30-million range.

In an effort to become more globally competitive, the company began reorganizing its manufacturing into cells, or eight- to nine-person units that work as mini-assembly lines. The new process, called ”lean manufacturing,” has reduced manufacturing time for a Folding Hunter Model 110 knife, for example, from three days to 15 minutes. As a result of reducing cycle time and the requisite manufacturing space, the company is looking for a smaller facility.

”Manufacturing was challenged to become globally competitive, so the potential relocation is just one piece of that overall picture,” Buck said.

If the company moves from California, it will choose between Oregon and Idaho based on how business-friendly it perceives the states over a long period of time.

”The relocation right now is still on the drawing board,” Buck reiterated. ”There are no final decisions that have been made.”