Driving expansion to fight COVID-19

3M is relentless in our commitment to fight the pandemic from every angle. Earlier this month, we marked the expansion of our manufacturing plant in Aberdeen, South Dakota that will further accelerate respirator production to help protect healthcare and other frontline workers. Part of a public-private partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense, the 120,000-square-foot expansion adds new manufacturing lines while creating 100 jobs.

When COVID-19 broke out in January, we ramped up to maximum production of respirators and doubled our output, and have worked tirelessly to bring additional capacity online. By the end of 2020, 3M will distribute 2 billion respirators globally, including 1 billion in the U.S., a threefold increase from last year. Our people will continue to help get the world through this crisis – from making more respirators than ever before, to supporting vaccine development.

Thank you to our partners in the U.S. federal and South Dakota governments who helped to make this new expansion possible, and to 3Mers in Aberdeen and around the world who are stepping up in these critical times.