
In the mid-1990s, 3M Pharmaceuticals, as the division came to be called, produced the first CFC-free asthma inhaler in response to adoption of the Montreal Protocol by the United States. 3M retained the Riker Laboratories name for the subsidiary until at least 1985.

In the late 1950s, 3M produced the first asthma inhaler, but the company did not enter the pharmaceutical industry until the mid-1960s with the acquisition of Riker Laboratories, moving it from California to Minnesota.

Sales began in 1956, and in 1973 the two chemists received a patent for the formula. The original formula for Scotchgard, a water repellent applied to fabrics, was discovered accidentally in 1952 by 3M chemists Patsy Sherman and Samuel Smith. In 1951, DuPont purchased PFOA from then-Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company for use in the manufacturing of teflon, a product that brought DuPont a billion-dollar-a-year profit by the 1990s. In 1947, 3M began producing perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) by electrochemical fluorination. The John Dwan Office Building, where 3M was founded, now a museum 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 finally became financially stable in 1916 and was able to pay dividends. McKnight, later a key executive, joined the company in 1907, and A. G. The company moved to Duluth and began researching and producing sandpaper products. Co-founder John Dwan solicited funds in exchange for stock and Edgar Ober and Lucius Ordway took over the company in 1905. The goal was to mine corundum, but this failed because the mine's mineral holdings were anorthosite, which had no commercial value. History įive businessmen founded the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company as a mining venture in Two Harbors, Minnesota, making their first sale on June 13, 1902.

In June 2023, 3M reached a settlement to pay more than $10 billion to US public water systems to resolve claims over the company's contamination of water with PFAS (so-called " forever chemicals"). There are a few international subsidiaries such as 3M India, 3M Japan, and 3M Canada. As of 2021, the company had approximately 95,000 employees and operations in more than 70 countries. ģM made $35.4 billion in total sales in 2021, and ranked number 102 in the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. It is based in Maplewood, a suburb of Saint Paul, Minnesota. 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.

3M (originally the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company) is an American multinational conglomerate operating in the fields of industry, worker safety, healthcare, and consumer goods.
