SOLON, OHIO — Schwebel Baking Co. has announced plans to close its baking plant in Solon in May, citing a need to focus efforts on a core group of products and customers. The plant has 204 employees and bakes a variety of bread, buns and rolls.

Lori Mickholtzick, director of human resources at Schwebel, said the company plans to consolidate its production to its two other Ohio facilities, located in Hebron and Youngstown.

“Decisions like this are always difficult and not easy,” Ms. Mickholtzick said. “The employees in Solon will be given the opportunity to apply for jobs that are open in its other manufacturing and distribution facilities.”

The decision to close the facility in Solon comes a little more than five years after the company ceased operations at its baking plant in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. At that time, Schwebel said it would be transferring production to the more modern facility in Solon, which is located about 22 miles from Cuyahoga Falls.

Founded in 1906 in the kitchen of Joseph and Dora Schwebel, Schwebel Baking Co. is one of the largest family-owned, independent baking companies in the United States, producing a variety of fresh bread, buns and rolls under the Schwebel’s, ‘taliano, Millbrook, Country Hearth, Roman Meal, Sun-Maid Raisin and Cinnabon brand names. It operates 3 bakeries and 35 distribution centers, and it distributes its products in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Indiana.