Pre Learning Journey 1: 3M

Introduction to 3M

3M(Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company) is an MNC specialising in innovation to provide goods and services to benefit industries and the commercial sector. Starting out as an abrasives manufacturer 3M has expanded operations and variety of products innovated to create adhesives, laminates and other useful inventions to aid in everyday life. Many of the products we see and use everyday, especially the post-it which 3M is well-known for, can be traced back to the company.

Reflections:

Being passionate about the medical sciences, the company's service to the medical industry is certainly applicable to my interests. The company is at the forefront of technology with new products in drug delivery and respiratory solutions such as facemasks, which i would be interested to find out more about. Moreover, the company also places emphasis on innovation to provide new solutions to common problems in society, which i am sure is an interest of all teenagers living in our ever-changing and developing world today. As such, i can see myself connected with what the company does in terms of my passion in life and the job scope of the company.

In the course of my research about the company i realised certain aspects which really stimulated my interest and wowed me, namely that of the R&D centre and 3M's vision for the future. What wowed me about the R&D centres was the potential it could bring for many companies in terms of research, and the multi-disciplinary research that it conducts, which piques my interest since it seems highly interesting and exciting to work in an environment with an air of innovation and breakthroughs. Moreover, the allotting of space and resources to provide services for companies in R&D with state of the art laboratories for clinical research was not what i expected from 3M originally.

Passage from 3M website:
3M Singapore R&D Centre

The vision of the 3M Singapore R&D Centre is to be a major growth driver and leader in new products and technology platforms. With growing research and development work in Singapore, 3M has established two innovation centres at our Woodlands and Yishun sites. 

The focus of the R&D Centre @ Woodlands is on multi-disciplinary research in the areas of electronics, optics, circuitry, adhesive and coatings. This enables 3M to leverage our knowledge in electronics as well as our vast analytical and weathering capabilities. This facility is able to provide predictive and material analysis for many different industries, and is home to 90 research engineers and scientists. 

The R&D Centre @ Yishun is currently primarily focused on servicing pharmaceutical firms in the region. Officially opened in Oct 2009, the Drug Delivery Systems Laboratory @ Yishun provides full R&D services to pharmaceutical partners in Asia for 3M Inhalation and Trans-dermal drug delivery technologies. In addition, the site is also the global center of excellence for late stage stability testing for drug product registration. The 1858 m2 laboratory is certified to cGMP, houses two process labs where clinical studies samples can be manufactured. The laboratory is currently staffed by 50 trained chemists and engineers from 8 nationalities. 

The next thing that wowed me was also that of the vision of a flexible touch screen concept. The idea seemed fantastical but showed 3M's foresight and innovation to think in an unconventional manner and predict the future needs and wants of society, and designing products to suit those needs the moment they arise. It really wowed me since the product concept was not only futuristic and well designed, but also the coming up of such a concept was very awe-inspiring since i doubt a layman could come up with such a concept so concretely.

Before research my impression of the company was rather myopic that it specialised in household products and some other industrial applications of the goods provided, but after research it really emphasised the nature of innovation the company had inherently and showed the vast capabilities of the company to satisfy needs of many industries, which i felt was very admirable.

I hope to learn much about the innovation processes the workers in 3M undergo and to find out more about how products end up from being designed and innovated to appearing on store shelves. Moreover, i too wish to find out the inspirations for their products, and what it takes to be an engineer. I believe that the future requires innovation as a driver for sustainable progress and to solve existing problems that plague the planet. I really hope to visit 3M to learn alot from the company which can be applied to later life as we youth become the leaders and problem-solvers of society.