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3M
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3M Company , formerly Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company until 2002, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation with a worldwide presence.
With over 75,000 employees they produce thousands of products, including: adhesives, abrasives, laminates, passive fire protection, dental products, electrical materials, electronic circuits and optical films. 3M has operations in more than 60 countries – 29 international companies with manufacturing operations, and 35 with laboratories.
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Encyclopedia
3M Company , formerly Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company until 2002, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation with a worldwide presence.
With over 75,000 employees they produce thousands of products, including: adhesives, abrasives, laminates, passive fire protection, dental products, electrical materials, electronic circuits and optical films. 3M has operations in more than 60 countries – 29 international companies with manufacturing operations, and 35 with laboratories. 3M products are available for purchase through distributors and retailers in more than 200 countries, and many 3M products are available online directly from the company.
History
3M started out on the North Shore of Lake Superior at Two Harbors, Minnesota in 1902. The company then moved to Duluth, Minnesota, and then again to Saint Paul, Minnesota. 3M stayed for 15 years before outgrowing the campus and moving to its current headquarters in Maplewood (a St. Paul suburb), where it is still based today. The new campus in Maplewood is and has over 50 buildings, including an 'innovation center' that displays products 3M has brought to market.
The company began by mining stone from quarries for use in grinding wheels. Struggling with quality and marketing of its products, top management supported its workers to innovate and develop new products, which eventually would develop into its core business. Twelve years after being founded, 3M was able to develop its first exclusive product: 3M Three-M-ite cloth. Other innovations around this time by 3M included waterproof sandpaper and masking tape. After this point, the famous Scotch brand tape was “born.” By 1929 3M made its first moves in to an international expansion by forming “Durex” in order to conduct business in Europe. This same year, the company’s stocks were first traded over the counter and in 1946 the stocks were listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The company is currently a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and of the S&P 500.
Founding
3M was founded by Henry S. Bryan, Herman W. Cable, John Dwan, William A, McGonagle,Tahir Farhad, and Dr. J. Danley Budd. The founders' original plan was to sell the mineral corundum to manufacturers in the East for making grinding wheels. After selling only one load, on [June 13, 1902 the five went to the Two Harbors office of company secretary John Dwan, which was on the shore of Lake Superior and is now part of the 3M Museum, and signed papers making Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing a corporation. In reality, however, Dwan and his associates were not selling what they thought; they were in fact selling the worthless mineral anorthosite.
Failing to make sandpaper with the anorthosite, the founders decided to import minerals like Spanish garnet, after which sale of sandpapers grew. In 1914, customers complained that the garnet was falling off the paper. The founders discovered that the stones had traveled across the Atlantic Ocean packed with olive oil, and the oil had penetrated the stones. Unable to take the loss of selling expensive inventory, they simply roasted the stones over a fire to remove the olive oil. This was the first instance of research and development at 3M.
In 1916 company general manager William L. McKnight applied the same scientific methods to production that he had used to save the company from bankruptcy,and bought the company's first lab for $500.
Expansion
The company's early innovations include waterproof sandpaper (1921) and masking tape (1925), as well as cellophane "Scotch Tape" and sound deadening materials for cars. 3M's corporate image is built on its innovative and unique products, with up to 25% of sales each year from new products .
After World War II 3M opened plants across the United States. During the 1950s the company expanded worldwide with operations in Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, Australia, and the United Kingdom in large part by Clarence Sampair. In 1951, international sales were approximately $20 million. 3M’s achievements were recognized by the American Institute of Management naming the company “one of the five best-managed companies in the United States and included it among the top 12 growth stocks (3M).”
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, 3M published a line of board games, largely under the "3M bookshelf game series" brand. These games were marketed to adults and sold through department stores, with easily learned simple rules but complex game play and depth and with uniformly high quality components. As such, they are the ancestors of the German "Eurogames". The games covered a variety of topics, from business and sports simulations to word and abstract strategy games. They were a major publisher at the time for influential American designers Sid Sackson and Alex Randolph. In the mid-1970s, the game line was taken over by Avalon Hill.
In 1969, 3M introduced its first and only traffic signal, the Model 131. Labeled a "programmable visibility" signal, the signal had the unique ability to be "programmed" so it was visible from certain angles. The Model 131's "programmability" was achieved via masking a clear glass lens with aluminum adhesive tape. It was the first of its type and one of only two of the design in history. 3M sold these signals for special-use applications, such as left turn signals, skewed intersections, or dangerous intersections where a very bright indication is needed. The signals are very heavy (roughly 55 pounds per signal head) and expensive to maintain, and removal is quite frequent in some areas. In addition to the 3M Model 131 traffic signal, 3M also marketed and sold a retrofit kit for conventional signals using modified M-131 optics, a retrofit kit for eight-inch (203 mm) conventional signals using a smaller version of the M-131 optical assembly, a Model 130 Programmable Visibility pedestrian signal (a M-131 with pedestrian signal indications), and a few bi-modal modifications of the M-131. As of 2005, 3M no longer manufactures the signals but has continued to supply parts for them.
3M's Mincom division introduced several models of magnetic tape recorders for instrumentation use and for studio sound recording. An example of the latter is the model M79 recorder , which still has a following in recording circles today. 3M Mincom was also involved in designing and manufacturing video production equipment for the television and video post-production industries in the 1970s and 1980s, with such items as character generators and several different models of video switchers, from models of audio and video routers to video mixers for studio production work.
3M Mincom was involved in some of the first digital audio recordings of the late 1970s to see commercial release when a prototype machine was brought to the Sound 80 studios in Minneapolis. After drawing on the experience of that prototype recorder, 3M later introduced in 1979 a commercially available digital audio recording system called the "3M Digital Audio Mastering System" , which consisted of a 32-track digital audio tape recorder and a companion 4-track digital recorder for final mastering. 3M later designed and manufactured several other commercially available models of digital audio recorders used throughout the early to mid-1980s.
In 1980 the company introduced Post-it notes. In 1996, the company's data storage and imaging divisions were spun off as the Imation Corporation. Imation has since sold its imaging and photographic film businesses to concentrate on storage.
Today 3M is one of the 30 companies included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (added on August 9, 1976), and is ranked number 101 on the Fortune 500 listing. The company has 132 plants and over 67,000 employees worldwide, with sales offices in over 200 countries. The vast majority of the company's employees are local nationals, with few employees residing outside their home country. Its worldwide sales are over $20 billion, with international sales 58% of that total.
On December 20, 2005, 3M announced a major partnership with Roush-Fenway Racing, one of NASCAR's premier organizations. In 2008 the company will sponsor Greg Biffle in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as he drives the #16 Ford Fusion. In addition, on February 19, 2006, 3M announced that it would become the title sponsor of the 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway for at least the next three years.
On April 4, 2006, 3M announced its intention to sell pharmaceutical non-core business. The pharmaceuticals businesses were sold off in three deals, in Europe, the Americas, and the rest of the world. Another division of the Health Care business, Drug Delivery Systems remains with 3M. The Drug Delivery System division continues to contract manufacture inhalants and transdermal drug delivery systems and has now taken on manufacture of the products whose licenses were sold during the divestiture of the pharmaceuticals business. On September 8], 2008, 3M announced an agreement to acquire Meguiar's, a car care products company that was family-owned for over a century.
Today, after 100 years, 3M follows a business model based on “the ability to not only develop unique products, but also to manufacture them efficiently and consistently around the world (3M).”
Environmental record
In 1999, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency? (EPA) began investigating perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) after receiving data on the global distribution and toxicity of PFOS, the former key ingredient in Scotchgard. For these reasons, 3M, the former primary American producer of PFOS, announced in May 2000, the phaseout of the production of PFOS, PFOA, and PFOS-related products. The PFCs that were produced were related to non-stick cookware, stain resistant fabrics, and other similar products. The PFCs were also released into the immediate environment surrounding the Cottage Grove facility starting in the 1940s and lasting until 2002. In response to PFC contamination of the Mississippi River and surrounding area, 3M states that the area will be "cleaned though a combination of groundwater pumpout wells and soil sediment excavation." The plan for the restoration of the area includes a complete analysis of the entire company property and surrounding lands. The on-site water treatment facility that handles the plant's post-production water is not capable of removing the PFCs, which were pumped into the nearby Mississippi River. Estimates on the total cost of the clean-up to be incurred by 3M range from 50-56 million dollars, which will come out of the $147 million pot the company set aside in 2006 to deal with environmental issues relating to the company. The search area for PFCs in the Mississippi River now extends to five states, spanning approximately half of the river's total distance. Perfluorochemicals do not break down or degrade in the environment.
In 2002 3M rated as number 70 out of the United States 100 top air polluters on the PERI Toxic 100 list, producing 4.75 million pounds of air pollutants every year. The Cottage Grove site represents 3M's third highest pollutant producing facility, releasing . of pollution into the air yearly.
In 2008, it has created the 3M Renewable Energy Division within 3M’s Industrial and Transportation Business and will focus on Energy Generation and Energy Management .
Operating facilities
3M’s general offices, corporate research laboratories, and certain division laboratories are located in St. Paul, Minnesota. In the United States, 3M has nine sales offices in eight states and operates 74 manufacturing facilities in 27 states. Internationally, 3M has 148 sales offices. The Company operates 93 manufacturing and converting facilities in 32 countries outside the United States.
3M owns substantially all of its physical properties. 3M’s physical facilities are highly suitable for the purposes for which they were designed. Because 3M is a global enterprise characterized by substantial intersegment cooperation, properties are often used by multiple business segments.
Selected factory detail information:
- Cynthiana, Kentucky, USA factory producing 650 - 700 trailers of Post-It notes (672 SKU) and scotch tape (147 SKU). It has 539 employees and was established in 1969. It still accounts for nearly all of the world's production.
- Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, UK factory producing respirators for workers safety, using laser technology. It has 370 employees and recently there was an investment of £4,5 million ($9 million).
Products
Corporate governance
Current officers
- George W. Buckley Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
- Patrick D. Campbell Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
- Joe E. Harlan Executive Vice President, Electro and Communications Business
- Michael A. Kelly Executive Vice President, Display and Graphics Business
- Angela S. Lalor Senior Vice President, Human Resources
- Jean Lobey Executive Vice President, Safety, Security and Protection Services Business
- Robert D. MacDonald Senior Vice President, Marketing and Sales
- Moe S. Nozari Executive Vice President, Consumer and Office Business
- Frederick J. Palensky Executive Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Technology Officer
- Brad T. Sauer Executive Vice President, Health Care Business
- H.C. Shin Executive Vice President, Industrial and Transportation Business
- Marschall I. Smith Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs and General Counsel
- Inge G. Thulin Executive Vice President, International Operations
- John K. Woodworth Senior Vice President, Corporate Supply Chain Operations
Presidents
| 1902–1905 | Henry S. Bryan | | 1905–1906 | Edgar B. Ober | | 1906–1909 | Lucius P. Ordway | | 1909–1929 | Edgar B. Ober | | 1929–1949 | William L. McKnight | | 1949–1953 | Richard P. Carlton | | 1953–1963 | Herbert P. Buetow | | 1963–1966 | Bert S. Cross |
Chief executive officers
Chairmen of the board
See also
External links
Additional Resources
- The are available for research use at the
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