Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, which is now simply known as 3M Company, has business operations in more than 60 countries. Of the 60 branches worldwide, 29 international companies are into manufacturing operations while 35 are laboratories. 3M Companies produces over 75,000 products including; adhesives, 3M abrasives, laminates dental products, passive fire protection, electronic circuits, electrical material, optical films, and supply chain management software.



As early as 1902 3M has been mining stone from quarries for use in grinding wheels. Since then 3M has gone a long way and 3M abrasives is now known for it quality and durability world wide. Abrasives are commonly used in grinding, polishing, cutting, honing, buffing, drilling, sanding and sharpening. Abrasive materials are either natural or man made mineral. 3M Industrial Abrasives offers different products to serve the particular needs of many industries. 3M Abrasives is the source for surface conditioning, coated, precision castings, cylindrical grinding, bonded and super abrasives for use in metal fabrication, furniture and construction industries, automotive manufacturing, maintenance and many more.

If you have a need to grind, blend, polish, sand, prep, clean, cut or repair surfaces, 3M Adhesives has just the right product to suit your needs. 3M adhesives are available either coated or bonded. This is done to serve the purposes of rough grinding to precision finish. 3M Microabrasive Products is a unique micron graded abrasives which produces precision, finish faster and more efficiently. To suit the finishing and polishing operation, a variety of minerals, backings and attachment system are made available in discs, rolls, sheets and belts.

3M has also produced their Superabrasive line of products. These are products using diamond and the Cubic Boron Nitride (CBN) abrasives. This line of products gives a precision finish on hard-to-grind materials such as ceramics, thermal spray coatings, stone, carbides, glass and non-ferrous metals.

Another 3M abrasive which under the Scotch-Brite trade mark are the surface conditioning abrasives. These abrasives are also popular household needs. This product line is used to improve surface quality while maintaining the dimensional integrity of the material. These conditioning products efficiently deburr, clean, blend and finish the material.

To support 3M Adhesives, the company has produced power tools, accessories, compounds, specialties and wood repair to support or drive the coated and surface conditioning products.

3M Abrasives Systems Division is said to be the 'heritage business' of 3M Company. The company was founded in 1902 with abrasives as the first product developed and introduced in the market. November 1, 2007, 3M announced their acquisition of Standard Abrasives in St. Paul Minnesota. Standard Abrasives is a manufacturer of coated abrasives specialties and non-woven abrasive products for the metalworking industry. The acquisition would boost its ability to bring excellent solutions to the metalworking industry. The acquisition is also made to support both the core business and the growth of the company into additional markets. 3M Abrasives technology brands include; Cubitron, Scotch-Brite, and Trizact continue to provide the world with quality products, innovative solutions, innovative materials for every polishing and grinding needs.