3M Virtual Tour (Draft )

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3MVirtualTour

October 25

2011This paper explores the sustainability of 3Ms many supplychains.

By StephenJohnson,Eugene Luo,FrankMargherita,Dipak Patil


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Company Overview:

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co (3M), was founded in

1902 and is now headquartered in St Paul MN. Classically, 3M is

best known for the inventions of masking and Scotch tape. They

are a leader in many markets including health care, highway

safety, office products, electronic circuits, optical films, electronic

materials, and adhesives. Today 3M employs over 76,000

employees, produce over 55,000 products, have operations in

over 60 countries which include 29 international companies with

manufacturing operations, and 35 with laboratories. 3Ms

products are available for purchase in over 200 countries through

distributors and retailers.

Sustainability Goals:

Supply chain sustainability is a holistic perspective of supply chain

processes and technologies that go beyond the focus of delivery,inventory and traditional views of cost1. The philosophy is based

on the principle that socially responsible products and practices

are not just good for the environment, but are important for long-

term effectiveness and profitability of companies.

In practice, supply chain sustainability can include projects to

reduce energy cost, any form of waste and application of greentechnologies within transportation and logistics networks. 3Ms

2015 Sustainability Goals represent the companys continuing

1 SearchManufacturingERP.com, supply chain sustainability,

http://searchmanufacturingerp.techtarget.com/definition/supply-chain-sustainability
http://searchmanufacturingerp.techtarget.com/definition/supply-chain-sustainabilityhttp://searchmanufacturingerp.techtarget.com/definition/supply-chain-sustainability


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commitment to reduce its releases to the environment. These

goals include:

Reduce Volatile Air Emissions 15% by 2015 from 2010 base

year, indexed to net sales.

Reduce Waste 10% by 2015 from 2010 base year indexed to

net sales.

Improve Energy Efficiency 25% by 2015 from 2005 base

year, indexed to net sales.

Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions 5% by 2011 from 2006

base year, indexed to net sales (Goal was set in 2007).

Develop Water Conservation Plans when 3M is located in

water scarce and stressed areas.

To Achieve the Goal:

Pollution Prevention Pays (3P) program in the 1960-70s

pollution became hot issue. 3M initiated Pollution Prevention Pays

(3P) in 1975. It is based on the belief that a preventative

approach is more effective, technically sound, and economical

than conventional pollution controls. Building conventional

controls requires natural resources, human energy, and money;

operating them requires even more. And conventional controls

only constrain the problem temporarily; they do not eliminate it.

The program is proved to have great success. In 1975 the year it

started, it ran 19 projects which prevented 73,000 tons of air


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emissions and 2,800 tons of sludge. By now over 6000 projects

are implemented and they prevent more than three billion pounds

of pollution and saved nearly $1.4 billion through 8,600 employee

driven pollution prevention projects since 1975.

Reducing 3M has long been devoting in reducing the

environmental footprints (or carbon footprints) during the entire

industrial processes including:

A. Energy Reduction - 3M is implementing innovative truck

decking systems that decrease air emissions and save on

fuel costs. The decking system allows one truck to carry two

levels of load without stacking the pallets on each other and

damaging the products. This new system has reduced the

number of daily truckloads by 40 percent, saving about

12,500 gallons of fuel and $110,000 per year.

B. Water treatment For reducing water demands 3M IndiasBangalore facility treats its wastewater on-site and uses the

sanitized water to irrigate its grounds. Doing so reduces the

facilitys water use by 1.5 million gallons annually and cuts

water costs by half; for wastewater treatment 3M Brazil

facilities replaced a solvent-based paper treatment process

the company used to manufacture packaging with a new

water-based process. As a result, the facility reduced solvent

emissions by more than 45 tons per year. By preventing

solvent emissions at the source, the plant also eliminated

the need for pollution control equipment, reducing the


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plants energy use and eliminating more than 125 metric

tons of CO2 emissions annually. The project is expected to

save 3M Brazil more than $850,000 in its first year of

implementation.

C. Air Emissions Reductions 3M uses coating reformulations

and equipment modifications in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin,

so that volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other air

emissions by 90%, thereby eliminating the need to use

pollution prevention equipment, resulting in a saving of 550

tons of greenhouse gases (GHGs) annually. Also, it 3M

Fairmont recently installed a new solvent-free coating

technology to eliminate the use of organic solvent. This

change resulted in the elimination of 50 tons of air emission

and 1.5 tons of hazardous waste per year.

D. Waste Disposal Reduction - 3M is reducing waste inherent to

product design by using Red Dot Resting (RDR) Electrodes.

The project prevented nearly 11 tons of waste and saved

nearly $1 million in its first year of implementation.

Moreover, 3M develops collapsible, reusable steel crates that

reduce waste and save money. The new crates collapse to

one-third of their height for easy return to the U.S. This

project eliminated 315 tons of solid waste and produced

savings of $101,800 in the first year it was implemented

alone.


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Recycling Several 3M facilities have developed pollution

prevention projects that turn wasted supplies into raw materials

by working with a recycler to recover waste so it could be reused.

With these types of processes a plant that has uses platinum in

their production process is saving more than $100,000 and

prevent more than 1,000 tons of waste per year. Another plant

that produces film prevented 164 tons of waste and resulted in a

savings of $336,000 in the first year. 3M also adopted a new Life

Cycle Management Policy in 2001 requiring all of our business

units to conduct life cycle reviews for all new and existingproducts.

Carbon Offsets 3Ms sustainability program includes not only

reduction and recycling but also carbon offset. Carbon offset is a

reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide or other GHGs made in

order to compensate for or to offset an emission made elsewhere.

In practical it is usually processed by tree planting, education, and

donation to environmental groups, as well carbon trading buying

carbon emission quota from elsewhere. 3M have donated more

than $10 million to The Nature Conservancy to safeguard critical

habitat and biodiversity in the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, and China. 3M

also have been encouraging its employees to create on

sustainable field. Every year 3M award the individual or groupsmake great contribution such as 3P program.

Supplier Standers - Suppliers are expected to adopt practices

that comply with all applicable laws and regulations and that are


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environmentally sound and socially responsible, based on the

following factors:

A. Responsible Sourcing - ensuring that products and services

are produced to standards consistent with 3Ms Supply Chain

Policies.

B. Use of Materials reducing use/volume of materials,

increasing use of substances that have less environmental

impact than alternatives, increasing use of materials with

recycled content, and designing products that can either be

reused or recycled. Examples include:

Reducing material content, including packaging,

waste

Increasing the reuse of materials

Increasing the use of renewable materials

Recycling materials, including input materials

Increasing the recyclability of saleable product

C. Use of Energy and Indirect Resources - increasing energy

and resource efficiency in the manufacturing and supply

processes to reduce environmental impacts. Examples

include:

Increasing the energy efficiency of process equipment


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Increasing the energy efficiency in transportation

modes

Reducing water consumption

Reducing the resource intensity to fabricate capital

equipment

Success on Sustainability

Achievement Thanks to 3Ms continues working on sustainable

supply chain, great achievements have been made on various of

field including:

Air emission reduces 85% since 1990

Pollutants disposing in water body reduces 80% since

1990

Waste disposal reduces 25% since 1990

Total waste disposal reduces 35% since 1990

Recognition of Sustainability

Sustained Excellence Award for Energy management -

Eighth year in a row 3Ms been recognized by the US

Environmental Protection Agency and US Department of

Energy.

Interbrands Best Global Green Brands for 2011 Ranked #2

on the list of Greenest Brands.


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