Hookit Disc

The 3M Company is an American multinational conglomerate corporation operating in the fields of industry, worker safety, US health care, and consumer goods. The company produces over 60,000 products under several brands, including adhesives, abrasives, laminates, passive fire protection, personal protective equipment, window films, paint protection films, dental and orthodontic products, electrical and electronic connecting and insulating materials, medical products, car-care products, electronic circuits, healthcare software and optical films. It is based in Maplewood, a suburb of Saint Paul, Minnesota. 3M made $32.8 billion in total sales in 2018, and ranked number 95 in the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. As of 2018, the company had approximately 93,500 employees, and had operations in more than 70 countries. Five businessmen founded the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company as a mining venture in Two Harbors, Minnesota, making their first sale on June 13, 1902. The goal was to mine corundum, but this failed because the mine's mineral holdings were anorthosite, which had no commercial value. Co-founder John Dwan solicited funds in exchange for stock and Edgar Ober and Lucius Ordway took over the company in 1905. The company moved to Duluth and began researching and producing sandpaper products. William L. McKnight, later a key executive, joined the company in 1907, and A. G. Bush joined in 1909. 3M finally became financially stable in 1916 and was able to pay dividends. The company moved to St. Paul in 1910, where it remained for 52 years before outgrowing the campus and moving to its current headquarters at 3M Center in Maplewood, Minnesota in 1962. 3M produces approximately 60,000 products, as of 2019, and has four business groups focused on safety and industrial, transportation and electronics, health care, and consumer products. 3M obtained its first patent in 1924, and acquires approximately 3,000 new patents annually. The company surpassed the 100,000-patent threshold in 2014.