3M Medica

3M Medica carries the name of 3M, the American multinational conglomerate that began in 1902 as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company in Two Harbors, Minnesota [3]. 3M's own published histories do not describe 3M Medica as a separately founded business, and no founding date, location or product range specific to that name is publicly documented. The name echoes the medical side of 3M, a health care business that grew out of products such as surgical drapes, hypoallergenic surgical tape and Nexcare adhesive bandages.

The status of 3M Medica is unknown. 3M itself remains active, but in April 2024 it completed the spin-off of its health care business as an independent company, Solventum Corporation [3]. Which of the two companies the 3M Medica name now belongs to, and whether it is still in use, has not been publicly established.

According to 3M, the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company was founded by Dr. J. Danley Budd, Henry S. Bryan, William A. McGonagle, John Dwan and Hermon W. Cable [3]. Wikipedia gives the founding date as 13 June 1902 and lists a sixth founder, Charles Simmons [4]. Both accounts place the start in Two Harbors, a small town in northern Minnesota.

The beginning was not a success. The founders set out to mine corundum, a hard mineral well suited to making sandpaper, but the venture failed; the mineral they found instead was anorthosite, which sold slowly. In 1905, with an investment from St. Paul businessman Lucius P. Ordway, the company moved to Duluth to make sandpaper from abrasive minerals bought from other suppliers. Its first production building, a two-storey sandpaper factory, did not go smoothly either: the company says that, through poor planning, the floor collapsed under the weight of newly purchased raw materials.

Two years later, in 1907, William L. McKnight joined as an assistant bookkeeper. He later became president and chairman, and 3M credits him above all with shaping the company's culture of innovation and cooperation. The company frames these early setbacks as part of its identity, describing innovation and persistence as the traits that set its founders apart.

Ordway set up the first plant in St. Paul in 1910, a more central location that the company says allowed faster growth. Its first exclusive product, Three-M-ite abrasive cloth, followed in 1914, and by 1916 strong sales and a business upturn after the First World War allowed 3M to pay its first dividend. A first laboratory for testing product quality opened the same year.

In 1921 the company patented and introduced Wetordry, a waterproof sandpaper that 3M describes as the world's first waterproof coated abrasive. Car makers could use it with water, which cut dust and reduced the friction that damaged paintwork. Four years later, Richard Drew, a laboratory assistant testing sandpaper samples at a car body shop, noticed that painters struggled to mask off car parts. His idea became masking tape and started the Scotch tape line, and 3M's focus shifted increasingly toward product diversity. Scotch cellophane tape followed in 1930.

In 1937 vice-president Richard P. Carlton set up a central research laboratory to explore technologies with long-term potential. The company links this laboratory to later developments such as reflective materials that made highway signs and road markings easier to see.

The medical line took shape after the Second World War. In 1948 3M introduced surgical drapes, in the same year as gift ribbons. An international division was founded in 1951, with new companies in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico and the United Kingdom. In 1962 the first office building at the 3M Center in Maplewood, Minnesota, was completed; it became the global headquarters and remains so today.

The company marked its centenary in 2002 by registering "3M Company" as its legal name, replacing Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. In 2014 it received its 100,000th patent; 3M says it is granted around 3,000 patents worldwide each year, more than 500 of them in the United States. In 2025 the Scotch brand celebrated 100 years since the invention of masking tape.

For most of its history, 3M's health care business was a division of the parent company rather than a separate firm. That changed when 3M announced it would spin off its health care assets to form a new, independent company named Solventum Corporation [4]. According to 3M's history page, the separation was completed in April 2024 [3]. An earlier passage on Wikipedia had projected completion in 2023; 3M's own account gives the completed date as April 2024. 3M is a public company, and Wikipedia names William M. Brown as chairman and chief executive.

How the 3M Medica name fits into this split is not publicly documented. It could belong to 3M or to Solventum, but no public source links it to either owner by name, so its parent company is not established.

3M describes its purpose as using science to make people's lives better, a stance condensed in its tagline "Science. Applied to Life." [1]. The company says it sees its task as developing technologies and products that move every business forward, enrich every home and improve every life. It also says that a third of its revenue comes from products developed in the previous five years.

Wikipedia describes 3M as a conglomerate active in industry, worker safety and consumer goods, producing more than 60,000 products [4]. Among its best-known consumer brands it names Scotch tape, Scotchgard surface protectants, Post-it notes and Nexcare adhesive bandages. 3M is not a cosmetics company, and its health-related consumer products sit closer to first aid than to beauty.

On sustainability, the company introduced its "Pollution Prevention Pays" programme in 1975, which it says gave employees a role in shaping its environmental efforts.

Size figures differ between sources. A 3M Deutschland company page cites more than 90,000 employees and revenue of US$34.2 billion [1]. Wikipedia gives about 60,500 employees and revenue of US$24.9 billion for 2025, after the health care spin-off [4].

The products most closely tied to 3M's medical history are adhesives. In 1960 the company introduced 3M Micropore Surgical Tape, which it describes as the first hypoallergenic adhesive tape and a key to the success of its health care business [3]. Hypoallergenic here means designed to lower the risk of allergic skin reactions.

Consumer first aid followed. In 1994 3M launched Nexcare Active Strips, flexible foam plasters whose waterproof adhesive was meant to hold even on sweaty skin. Wikipedia mentions a 3M facility that manufactures more than 1,700 health care products, and a "super hub" that has made Nexcare adhesive bandages alongside furnace filters and Scotch tape.

In 2009 the health care business introduced the 3M Littmann Electronic Stethoscope Model 3200. 3M has also said that its microbial cleaning wipes remove 99.9 percent of viruses and bacteria.

Beyond health care, the company's technology names include Scotchlite, Scotchgard, Thinsulate, Cubitron II and its microreplication technology.

In 2023 3M's Scotch Cushion Lock protective packaging, a product outside the health care line, was recognised by the Edison Awards and by Fast Company's World-Changing Ideas.

The controversies attached to 3M concern the parent company, not products sold under the 3M Medica name.

The largest involve perfluorinated chemicals, known as PFAS. The US Environmental Protection Agency began investigating these substances in 1999, and in May 2000 3M announced it would phase out production of PFOS, perfluorooctanoic acid and related products. The state of Minnesota sued 3M for $5 billion in punitive damages; a settlement of $850 million was reached in February 2018 [4]. 3M later agreed to pay a $10.3 billion settlement to numerous US public water systems [4]. According to Wikipedia, the Flemish Government has paid 63 million euros in cleanup costs, with 3M contributing 75,000 euros.

A second dispute concerned Combat Arms earplugs, standard issue to members of the US military between 2003 and 2015. In 2018 3M agreed to pay $9.1 million to the US government to resolve allegations over the earplugs, without admitting liability. In August 2023 the company settled close to 260,000 lawsuits [4].

The status of 3M Medica is unknown. The parent company is active, and its history page lists the Scotch centenary in 2025 as a recent milestone. The health care business, however, has operated as Solventum Corporation since April 2024. No public source states whether 3M Medica now sits with 3M or with Solventum, or whether the name remains in use.