3M Chairman and CEO Mike Roman issued the following update
announcing additional details about 3M’s capacity increases of N95
respirators, strong measures to combat price gouging and
counterfeiting, and new partnerships to help protect our healthcare
workers on the front lines:
We continue to act with urgency to address this crisis from
every angle, and do all we can to protect our heroic nurses,
doctors and first responders. As previously communicated, beginning
in January we ramped up to maximum production of N95 respirators,
doubling our global output to a rate of 1.1 billion per year, or
100 million per month. This includes 35 million per month in the
United States, and over just the last seven days we have delivered
10 million N95 respirators to healthcare facilities in states
across the country.
We’ve already put into motion additional investments and actions
that will enable us to double our capacity once again, to 2 billion
globally within the next 12 months – and some of that additional
capacity will begin to come online in the next 60-90 days. In the
United States, we expect to be producing N95 respirators at a rate
of 50 million per month in June, a 40 percent increase from current
levels.
It’s also important to understand how we are prioritizing and
shipping products to serve the most urgent needs in this pandemic.
In the U.S., more than 90 percent of our N95 respirators are going
to healthcare and public health, with the remaining deployed to
other critical industries such as energy, food and
pharmaceuticals.
Of our U.S. supply directed toward healthcare and public health,
roughly 80 percent is flowing rapidly through our healthcare
distributors – primarily consisting of six large and well-known
companies with incredible logistical capabilities – which is the
quickest and most effective method of getting those supplies into
the hands of workers. These N95 respirators are moving directly
from 3M, to our healthcare distributors, to healthcare facilities
and end-users. We are working closely with these partners to
expedite delivery even more, which in some cases includes moving
pallets directly from our plants into critical areas – as we have
done over the last week to New York City and Seattle. The remaining
20 percent is being directed to the federal government, with the
largest portion going to FEMA who will allocate based on their
determination of the most urgent needs. The prioritization and
distribution of all of our N95
respirators are being coordinated in close partnership with FEMA,
and we are directly embedded with them at their headquarters to
help streamline decision-making and action.
This is not just a 3M challenge; it’s an industry-wide
challenge. Even with 3M’s accelerated production combined with
capacity from other manufacturers, the reality is that demand for
N95 respirators is much higher than the industries’ ability to
deliver. That is why we continue to explore innovative partnerships
and solutions to help protect our healthcare workers in this
extraordinary time.
Given the high use rate of N95 respirators, 3M engineers are
right now collaborating with several sterilization companies to
find a way for hospitals to safely clean, reuse and extend the life
of these respirators.
Additionally, we are partnering with Ford to bolster production
of 3M’s powered air purifying respirators (PAPRs), which are highly
specialized pieces of equipment used in the most demanding
healthcare environments. We’re moving forward quickly with the goal
of increasing PAPR production by six-fold within the next 60 to 90
days.
Our people are working around the clock to accelerate all of
these timelines, and I want to thank our 96,000 3Mers for your
tireless efforts – including those in our plants and distribution
centers who are helping make and deliver critical supplies to where
they’re desperately needed. We continue to prioritize the safety of
our people and do all we can to support them – from remote work
when possible, to social distancing and robust protocols for
cleaning in our plants.
We also continue to act on reports of counterfeiting and price
gouging related to 3M’s respirators. This activity is unethical and
illegal, and we’re doing all we can to end it. A week ago, I sent a
letter to the U.S. Attorney General and the attorneys general of
every state making clear that 3M has not and will not raise its
prices for respirators in this crisis, and offering our assistance
in the fight against unconscionable activities. We’re actively
working with law enforcement, our retail partners and others to
identify and punish perpetrators. To help our customers identify
and avoid inflated prices, today we are publicly publishing the
list prices for our N95 respirators, and activating a hotline to
help customers and end-users verify the authenticity of 3M products
and report suspected fraud. We’ve also made it clear to our channel
partners that 3M will not tolerate any such activity, and that we
will aggressively pursue third parties that seek to take advantage
of this crisis.
As disappointing as this unethical activity is, it is equally
heartening to see so many step up to help the world get through
this crisis – including the many retailers and 3M customers that
have voluntarily contributed or donated their excess stockpiles of
respirators and other key supplies. We’ll get through this
together, and 3M and our people will continue to do all we can to
protect lives and defeat this disease.
Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains
forward-looking information about 3M's financial results and
estimates and business prospects that involve substantial risks and
uncertainties. You can identify these statements by the use of
words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "aim," "project,"
"intend," "plan," "believe," "will," "should," "could," "target,"
"forecast" and other words and terms of similar meaning in
connection with any discussion of future operating or financial
performance or business plans or prospects. Among the factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially are the following:
(1) worldwide economic, political, regulatory, capital markets and
other external conditions and other factors beyond the Company's
control, including natural and other disasters or climate change
affecting the operations of the Company or its customers and
suppliers; (2) risks related to public health crises such as the
global pandemic associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19); (3)
liabilities related to certain fluorochemicals, including lawsuits
concerning various PFAS-related products and chemistries, and
claims and governmental regulatory proceedings and inquiries
related to PFAS in a variety of jurisdictions; (4) legal
proceedings, including significant developments that could occur in
the legal and regulatory proceedings described in the Company's
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2019, and
any subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q (the “Reports”); (5)
competitive conditions and customer preferences; (6) foreign
currency exchange rates and fluctuations in those rates; (7) the
timing and market acceptance of new product offerings; (8) the
availability and cost of purchased components, compounds, raw
materials and energy (including oil and natural gas and their
derivatives) due to shortages, increased demand or supply
interruptions (including those caused by natural and other
disasters and other events); (9) unanticipated problems or delays
with the phased implementation of a global enterprise resource
planning (ERP) system, or security breaches and other disruptions
to the Company's information technology infrastructure; (10) the
impact of acquisitions, strategic alliances, divestitures, and
other unusual events resulting from portfolio management actions
and other evolving business strategies, and possible organizational
restructuring; (11) operational execution, including scenarios
where the Company generates fewer productivity improvements than
estimated; (12) financial market risks that may affect the
Company’s funding obligations under defined benefit pension and
postretirement plans; and (13) the Company's credit ratings and its
cost of capital. Changes in such assumptions or factors could
produce significantly different results. A further description of
these factors is located in the Reports under "Cautionary Note
Concerning Factors That May Affect Future Results" and "Risk
Factors" in Part I, Items 1 and 1A (Annual Report) and in Part I,
Item 2 and Part II, Item 1A (Quarterly Reports). The information
contained in this news release is as of the date indicated. The
Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking
statements contained in this news release as a result of new
information or future events or developments.
About 3M At 3M, we apply science in collaborative ways to
improve lives daily. With $32 billion in sales, our 96,000
employees connect with customers all around the world. Learn more
about 3M’s creative solutions to the world’s problems at www.3M.com
or on Twitter @3M or @3MNews.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200331005827/en/
Jennifer Ehrlich (651) 736-9430
3M (NYSE:MMM)
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