The captain of industrial powerhouse 3M says the manufacturer is charting the right course after a summer of strong profits.
“All of this is momentum in the water,” CEO Bill Brown said.
Maplewood-based 3M beat Wall Street expectations for its most recent quarter, and the company upped its financial forecast for the rest of the year.
However, increased sales are not pushing the profit increase. Sales for the quarter and the full year so far are nearly flat.
After several years spent in transition — including the spinoff of its health care business, billions in legal settlements, major layoffs, restructuring, a new leader — 3M now appears to be reaping the benefits of an expensive and historic transformation of the 122-year-old company.
Brown said there’s more to be done on the three priorities he’s emphasized since taking the helm in May — sales growth, supply chain improvements and smart spending — but the third quarter “positions us well to deliver a strong finish to the year.”
The company is hiring more engineers and putting R&D dollars back into new product development to make good on Brown’s pledge to push more innovation onto shelves.
“We’re spending a lot of time thinking about where we put our precious $1 billion in R&D,” Brown said.
