WPG moving Ronkonkoma office to the South

WPG Americas Inc., an electronics distribution company, is relocating its Ronkonkoma office to a 60-employee facility in Mississippi near the Memphis, Tenn., airport, the Mississippi Development Authority said.

The Ronkonkoma office is one of 25 WPG Americas locations in the United States and the only one in New York State.

Officials at WPG, a top competitor for Melville-based Arrow Electronics Inc., did not respond to requests for comment on how the move would affect the local workforce, or the number of jobs affected.

WPG does not have a layoff advisory posted with the state Labor Department, which requires employers to submit a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) 90 days before a business shuts down.

The new facility will be in Southaven, Miss., where WPG plans to spend $1.5 million on the project. Local governments offered incentives through the Mississippi Development Authority and the DeSoto County Economic Development Council.

Among the products WPG distributes are Samsung semiconductors, LightPath industrial optical lenses, Cree light-emitting diodes and HelloSoft voice-over-Internet-protocol mobile telecom systems.

Reginald Durham, a WPG director, said in a statement released by the Mississippi agency, "We are confident that the decision to move to a modern and efficient facility, so well situated near a major transportation hub, will result in improved quality and faster service for our customers."