This is a company that still prides itself on being an employer for life. 3M's 33 senior-level executives have worked there an average of 32 years. There's a somewhat relaxed attitude at this company that seems out of date at the turn of the millennium. 3M's inventory was turning over just 3.5 times a year, sub-par for the manufacturing industry. As always there are promising products in the 3M pipeline.
Volition is one.
Novec is another. It's a fluid used in manufacturing, air-conditioning and refrigeration that replaces chlorofluorocarbon products, a longtime butt of environmentalist objections. DeSimone likes to point out that improvisation is an old 3M tradition. In fact the company is based on it. Back in 1906 directors decided the company should make sandpaper out of waste from a mining operation that never made any money.