3M 2013 Annual Report Download - page 3

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1
To Our
Shareholders
Through the great work of our people, 2013 was another
successful year for 3M. I am pleased with the strong execution
of our strategies across our businesses. We continued gaining
momentum and building the company for the future, finishing the
year stronger than ever.
Three key strategic levers enabled our outstanding performance last year. They are portfolio
management, investing in research and development, and business transformation. Here
are a few highlights:
Portfolio Management
Portfolio management is at the forefront of how we operate the company. Last year, we
combined and scaled businesses to better serve our customers, to gain cost savings
and to address underperforming businesses. Similarly, we enhanced our product offerings
and improved our relevance to customers in other businesses, and when it made sense,
we exited.
Investing in Research and Development
Innovation is now, and always will be, the heartbeat of our company. That’s why we
continued to invest in R&D and increased investments focused on long-term disruptive
technologies aimed at opportunities with significant growth potential. In fact, we funded
20 new product platforms in 2013, several of which are expected to be introduced to the
market this year. By 2017, our annual investment in R&D will reach 6 percent of sales.
Business Transformation
We are making good progress with Business Transformation as we continue to implement
our global Enterprise Resource Planning system. We successfully launched in multiple
countries last year and learned much that will accelerate our success going forward. This
integrated global IT platform will enable greater organizational efficiency and productivity.