3m Canada Essay

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3M Canada: Industrial Business Division The company 3M was founded in 1902 and consists of 69,000 employees. They have companies in over 60 countries and plants in 39 locations. 3M also has 50,000 patents worldwide. Their preliminary business charter was to mine a mineral deposit for grinding-wheel abrasives. 3M also developed the world’s first water-proof sandpaper. 3M has not, as a policy, outsourced production. However, they encourage subsidiaries worldwide (such as Canada) to pursue independent regional alliances. They encourage subsidiaries for third party distribution, licensed manufacturing and exclusive supplier status. These help to enhance local revenues and margins. Since 2000, the management had been driving productivity through programs like Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing and Global Sourcing. New products were a significant part of 3M’s growth portfolio and efforts were underway to short the time to market from six to seven years to eighteen months. 3M is divided into seven divisions: Health Care, Transportation, Display and Graphics, Consumer and Office, Industrial, Electro and Communications, and Safety and Security Services. Each is responsible for its own manufacturing and marketing facilities, as well as the product lines within it. They also have another division called the Industrial Business Division. The IBD serves a broad range of industrial markets, from appliances and electronics to paper and packaging. Question 1: Evaluate the opportunities and challenges 3M’s Industrial Business Division faces from changing the customer focus from OEM to MRO. When companies find themselves in a situation here they need to switch the way their entire company is going to function, they are faced with many difficult decisions and challenges. 3M Canada foresees many challenges as well as opportunities in switching from OEM to MRO. They are forced to decide

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