The innovation factory

A range of 60 000 products, plus over 600 new additions every year; a growth rate of 17.4 per cent from January to September on sales of US $ 20 bn; global sales in excess of US $ 26 bn forecast for 2010; an annual investment of more than six per cent of sales in research and development; more than 2 000 new patents in 2009: you have to cope with big numbers when dealing with the globally operating 3M group of companies. The company markets its products in 202 countries and maintains operations in more than 65 as well. More than 66 per cent of sales now come from markets outside the USA, the country where 3M is headquartered. Production and research operations take place worldwide. Around 10 000 of the group’s 79 000 employees work on the application of new technologies to the development of new products. These are in just about every-thing that the modern consumer comes into contact with daily: the approximately 100 parts of his car, the energy-saving screen of his smartphone, or the huge new A380 aircraft whose separate parts are now joined together by adhesives instead of rivets. Reflective street signs and road markings, dental fillings and, not least, the canary yellow Post-It notes that have adorned the desks of our world since their launch in 1980…all from 3M. In the home improvement business as elsewhere it is hard to do without – without products from the group and without big numbers: 3M claims to be the world market leader in both abrasives and occupational safety. In the latter segment it covers products to protect the user’s head, eyes, ears and breathing, as well as other personal protective equipment for professionals and DIYers alike. The man with responsibility for this area is Dr Jack G. Truong. He, as a qualified engineer himself, never tires of stressing the innovative capacity of his company. “We are not the followers, we are the creators of new businesses,” says this Vice President and General Manager of the 3M Construction and Home Improvement Markets Division, who gained his doctoral degree in chemical engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, USA, followed by research at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. By “new businesses” Truong means new products for which there was no market – because these products did not exist until they were invented by 3M. The best example here is provided by abrasives, which have been mentioned already. The company sold its first sandpaper in 1906. The world’s…