3M, originally called Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing, is a New York Stock Exchange-listed multinational industrial company with its roots in St Paul, Minnesota, US.
The products that 3M manufactures are varied and are used every day. Though most people are familiar with products like Scotch® tape, Post-It® and ThinsulateTM, far fewer are familiar with the range of automotive, traffic safety, mining and health-care products that the company manufactures. 3M manufactures around 52 000 different products worldwide and about 7 200 of those are available in sub-Saharan Africa.
With such a wide range of products, 3M's boast that it "touches people's lives, in some way, every day", is not a hollow one.
WHAT IT MEANS
 Leader in various sectors
Keeping global relevance
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Unlike old-fashioned conglomerates, many of which have been unbundled to their shareholders in the past decade, there's a definite and identifiable thread running through all of 3M's products and services. That common thread is coating technology - applying something that adheres to something else. Apart from the common brands, 3M is heavily involved in road safety - making conspicuity tape which makes large vehicles more visible to all road users. Its range of surgical dressings is able not only to adhere to a patient's wound but, in certain instances, to let medical staff see how the wound is progressing through the dressing.
"We're combining technology with high-quality products," says 3M country head Patrick Rogiers. "Our customers demand and get high-quality solutions. The total cost of ownership of products and services is key. Failures anywhere in the chain incur costs - reliable products and services reduce costs. This explains our presence in our key accounts."
An important element of 3M's success is its ability to partner its customers and share in their success. Only by identifying a customer's needs, can a company successfully partner that supplier. Its customer-focused brand value is at the heart of a relentless stream of successful innovations. Globally, 35% of sales are generated from products and solutions that were invented in the past four years. US$1,1bn is invested annually in global research and development.
Through its 65 subsidiaries all over the world, 3M is able to leverage its global network for the benefit of all its customers. It's able to draw on the experience of other subsidiaries to solve problems locally and its customer technical centre at 3M SA's head office in Sandton, is the door to the greater 3M in sub-Saharan Africa. "Using this facility, we are able to offer our customers not only the ability to solve problems locally but to step it up to a European or US level if necessary," says Rogiers.
3M SA is also the hub for the whole of sub-Saharan Africa and, as such, offers its SA customers the ability to go with them into other parts of Africa, wherever they are making investments. Though certain operations - like those in Kenya and Zimbabwe - have been operating since the 1960s, the main thrust into the rest of Africa started about eight years ago. Collectively, other African countries contribute about 18%-20% of 3M's total sub-saharan operations, including SA. Though that's a fairly low figure, it's growing and offers great growth opportunities. "We have to strengthen localisation in these countries, without losing the impact of the global brand," says Leheti Thibedi, 3M's general manager for sub-Saharan Africa.
Though there are similarities between SA and the rest of the continent, there are differentiating features. SA companies have a culture of using the highest-quality products, while this ethos is less apparent in the rest of Africa. "We need reputable distributors in other African countries. We only partner with distributors and end-users that work within the 3M culture - that ensures the integrity of our supply channels," says Thibedi.
The main industries in which 3M operates are in the rest of sub-saharan Africa, however there is a lot of competition in the rest of Africa for the kind of products that 3M supplies. China offers the greatest competition.
The Chinese government, for example, offers loans to many African countries, with the proviso that they then must buy Chinese products as well as repaying those loans.
Invariably, those products are much cheaper than 3M's. "We always move to a value debate, not price," says Thibedi.
Strategic items - used in the oil and gas industry - are not easy to copy and dump and are less problematic than commodity items.
3M has been invested in SA for more than 50 years and demonstrated its opposition to apartheid. It adopted the Sullivan Code in 1977 (a voluntary code in which companies pledged to adhere to fair and equal employment practices, as well as contribute meaningfully to the progress of black South Africans). In the mid-1970s, 3M SA was one of the first companies to integrate its workplace.
Today, that commitment continues, with over 30% of 3M's procurement being done through empowerment suppliers and SMMEs. 3M also has an extensive corporate social investment programme. It has been in SA through the tough times and has demonstrated its commitment to stay.
