Minnesota-based 3M Company, that manufactures more than 60,000 products for homes, schools, enterprises, governments and hospitals, may be staring at a barrage of market challenges.
These include flagging demand for cars and smartphones, growing end-market softness in China, company’s recent exit from Venezuelan market citing “unstable environment” and an urgent need to cut its flab by 2,000 through a global lay-off as part of the company’s “aggressive action” to drive costs down. Despite these challenges, 3M’s India operations remain unaffected and bullish, newly-appointed managing director Ramesh Ramadurai told The Hindu .
Listing out his immediate priorities as the country head, Mr. Ramadurai said 3M India had a strong history of building sustainable businesses based on its deep customer orientation and innovation.
“I look to building on this strong foundation that we laid in 1988, and executing our priorities aligned with the country’s transportation, infrastructure, healthcare and consumer sectors. It is our priority to transform our own processes and approaches, so that we remain contemporary.’’
Mr. Ramadurai said 3M’s priority was to use the breadth of its technologies and platforms to make a difference to people in India on the ground. The company offers highway safety signs, smart variable messaging signs and road furniture (objects used for safety and traffic control on State and national highways). It’s solutions also go into manufacturing industries and 3M’s advanced infection prevention solutions are widely used by hospitals in the country.
On India’s contribution to 3M’s global businesses, he said 3M India had been one of fastest growing subsidiaries and its contribution to the company’s global business was much beyond revenues.“India is also an important talent contributor to our global leadership in the U.S., to the scientific community and to several regional leadership positions in the Asia Pacific,” he added.
When asked about the India impact of 3M Global CEO Michael Roman’s recent statement of a possible lay-off, Mr. Ramdurai said: “Some of our key end markets such as automotive and electronics are seeing a global slowdown. Added to this is the additional impact of trade war and tariffs, which are leading to significant changes in global supply chain and consumption patterns.”
“We at 3M, are implementing portfolio and supply chain consolidation actions, including a restructuring, that will reduce approximately 2,000 positions, both voluntary and involuntary, across the globe. We expect this consolidation to help position ourselves better, to lead in our key markets and improve customer intimacy and experience.”
On online sales push, he said, digitisation and the digital economy have opened up a great opportunity not only for e-commerce but also an option to dramatically transform the company’s reach and engagement both in the B2C and B2B segments. Over the past few years, 3M had been investing globally in building this out, and also upskilling its teams and attracting new talent, he added.“Our e-commerce business is growing rapidly and we expect this momentum to build as shopping behaviour continues to evolve in India,” he said. Interestingly, we are seeing a whole new, young, educated, digitally native customer segment tuning into buying our products through these platforms.”
3M Company has been experiencing end-market softness in China. When asked will India chip in to compensate, Mr. Ramadurai said as has been reported, already 3M had experienced sequential softness in Q4 of FY19 due to several factors.
“Such a situation requires us to be even more close to our customers to understand their priorities and changing needs. We are fortunate to have a broad portfolio spanning multiple sectors, which inherently cushions us from deep volatility any one segment might experience in a given period,” Mr. Ramadurai added.
