Robot maker Motoman Inc. plans to stay in the Dayton region, but will leave its West Carrollton headquarters and two other sites in Troy.

Tom Schockman, vice president of finance and chief financial officer for Motoman, said Tuesday the company had whittled potential new locations down to a site in southern Montgomery County or northern Warren County. Both locations are near the pending Austin Road interchange off Interstate 75. Financing and incentives need to be finalized before a decision is announced.

“We’re hopeful that within a month or so we’ll have all that done,” Schockman said.

A new Motoman facility is expected to be about 300,000 square feet and cost $17 million to $18 million. It will consolidate as many as 275 workers into the new site, including about 75 in Troy and 200 in West Carrollton.

Schockman declined to name the builder.

The move will be a blow to West Carrollton since Motoman is one of the city’s largest employers.

Bill Covell, director of economic development for West Carrollton, said the city will lose about six percent of its revenue, or about $300,000 annually. The reality is that it may take as much as two years before the company vacates the West Carrollton site, Covell said, making it tough to fill right now.

He said the city has been working with one company to lure new jobs, and is a finalist, but wouldnt disclose any more detail.

More than a year ago, Motoman said it was evaluating its three local facilities — the West Carrollton headquarters and two facilities in Troy — because the leases expire in 2010.

Motoman, a subsidiary of Japan-based Yaskawa Electric Corp., is the second largest producer of robots in North America. The company originally housed all of its operations in Troy, before relocating its company headquarters to West Carrollton in the 1990s.