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3M Company:
Step 1 - Make Commitment
Founded over 100 years ago, 3M is a global, diversified, technology company that prides itself on innovation. 3M makes a wide variety of products ranging from post-it notes to pharmaceuticals. 3M has been an ENERGY STAR partner since 1997 and was named an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
Industrial Partner Since 1997
Awards & Recognition
- Leadership in Energy Management 2004
- Sustained Excellence 2007,2006,2005
Contact Information:
3M Company
3M Center, Building 223-5N-10
St. Paul , MN 55128
651-737-0849
In Practice
1: Make Commitment
1.2: Establish an Energy Team
Upstream and Downstream Management
As a large diversified manufacturer, 3M operates hundreds of different manufacturing facility types. Because of this, the 3M energy program relies on multi-disciplinary teaming and coordination to achieve their annual average 7% reduction. The 3M energy team makes use of the engineering, finance, environmental, plant operations, R&D departments, as well as their suppliers and vendors. This ensures that their energy team covers all stages of the production process, both upstream and downstream. Including the financial division also helps energy programs secure the necessary capital funding for major energy efficiency projects.
1.3: Institute an Energy Policy
3M's Energy Policy: Integration and Accountability
3M has created an integrated worldwide energy policy that extends the accountability of the energy program beyond environmental and operations divisions to coordination with their research & development organization, process engineers, and facility design engineers. This policy sets challenging, yet attainable goals that support the broader goals of the company to drive innovation with energy saving products and optimize capital investment. 3M revised their energy policy in 2004 after soliciting feedback on their policy from manufacturing directors, plant managers, plant operations and executive management. This process paid off when reviewers suggested the inclusion of manufacturing directors in energy management activities because their support is essential to program success. Energy policy revisions showed significant results for 3M in their first year of implementation. Energy efficiency improved by 8.3% in 2004.
