j.p. bilbrey, as the company marked the official opening of its new manufacturing facility right down thetreet from where hershey made its first chocolate bar in 1894. >> reporter: set on a hilltop in rural pennsylvania is hershey's gleaming new manufacturing home. the $300 million plant expansion and upgrades make it one of the largest and most modern candy making facilities in the world. hershey's c.e.o., j.p. bilbrey, says the idea behind what the company calls project next century was to invest for the future. >> we're really excited that this investment has more than doubled the square footage of the plant we have. >> reporter: the plant expansion is one of pennsylvania's largest manufacturing investments since hershey built the first phase of the plant 21 years ago. according to hershey, the addition pumped about $70 million directly into the region's economy and created more than 300 construction jobs. >> we were able to use local manufacturers, we were able to use labor from the market, and so the commitment that we made really created jobs in pennsylvania. >> reporter: while penn