page_title: General Mills
section_title: Engineering milestones
hierarchical_section_title: General Mills / History / Engineering milestones
caption_attribution_description: English: Aerial photo of the General Mills corporate headquarters campus, Golden Valley, Minnesota, USA.
context_page_description: General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. It is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. Often nicknamed "Big G", the company markets many well-known North American brands, including Gold Medal flour, Annie's Homegrown, Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totino's, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Häagen-Dazs, Cheerios, Trix, Cocoa Puffs, and Lucky Charms. Its brand portfolio includes more than 89 other leading U.S. brands and numerous category leaders around the world.
context_section_description: 1930s: General Mills engineer, Thomas R. James, creates the puffing gun, which inflates or distorts cereal pieces into puffed up shapes. This new technology was used in 1937 to create Kix cereal and in 1941 to create Cheerioats (known today as Cheerios).
  1939: General Mills engineer Helmer Anderson creates the Anderson sealer. This new device allowed for bags of flour to be sealed with glue instead of just being tied with a string.
  1956: General Mills creates the tear-strip for easily opening packages.
caption: General Mills' corporate campus in Golden Valley, Minnesota.
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