3M to put US$ 90 million to grow more in Brazil
Valor Econômico
Focused on the strengthening of the industrial and transportation area, 3M, as the American multinational Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing is known, intends to nearly double its investments in Brazil next year. From the amount of US$ 50 million invested in the country this year - which has already represented a growth of 6% compared to the average invested over the past five years - the resources the American multinational will direct to its Brazilian subsidiary should reach up to US$ 90 million in 2011. The idea is to boost the organic growth of the multinational in Brazil, which goes through the expansion of its production units, the production of items that were not made in the country, and innovations designed for the coming years.
Best known for its consumer products, such as the transparent adhesive tape, Durex, office notepapers, Post-it, and the Scotch-Brite cleaning materials, the multinational also has difficulties to be remembered in the market for its broad portfolio aimed at the sector of healthcare, the industry, and the area of telecommunications, among others. The subsidiary has seven plants in Brazil - five in São Paulo, one in the Amazon and another in Rio Grande do Sul - and it operates with six different business groups. The industry and transportation division currently represents nearly 45% of the sales of the company in the country, while the consumer and office segment is responsible for only 15% of its results. In the global business, the proportion is slightly more balanced, with 30% of the earnings coming from the industry and transportation and 15% from consumer goods.
With 4 thousand employees and earnings that should end this year at R$ 2.3 billion (US$ 1.35 billion) -growth of nearly 15% compared to the R$ 2.03 billion (US$ 1.19 billion) registered in 2009 -, the operations of 3M in Brazil represent only 4% of the overall results of the multinational. However, the President of 3M in Brazil, Michael Vale, recalls the subsidiary went from 10th place in the ranking of the sales of the company in 2005, to the current 6th place. With the investments that will be made next year, Vale plans to hire 250 new professionals who will join the other 450 who have already been hired throughout 2010. For 2011, the Executive estimates an increase between 12% and 15% in the earnings of the company in Brazil, while the multinational has been growing, globally, in the range from 4% to 6% in recent years. The global goal of the company is to reach up to 8% in the next five years.
The subsidiary also wants to introduce in the Brazilian market new capacities to the Brazilian productive areas. There are plans, for instance, to begin producing solutions for the oil and gas area here, taking advantage of the potential of the sector in the country. For that, the company should double the innovation team within up to five years - today with 130 people - and the investments in research and development should leave from the current 3% of the sales in Brazil, to something near the 6% invested globally, in the same period.