How is 3M Revolutionizing Its Operations with AI and Generative AI Across Multiple Sectors?

3M, a global innovation leader since 1902, is embracing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI to revolutionize its diverse operations. Under CEO Bill Brown‘s leadership, the company is leveraging these technologies across healthcare, industrial applications, transportation, and consumer products. From enhancing healthcare documentation with conversational AI to optimizing manufacturing processes with machine learning, 3M is reimagining how a modern enterprise can operate in the digital age.

The company’s commitment to AI innovation is exemplified by its new Generative AI Center of Excellence, which aims to ethically integrate AI across all operations. This initiative, coupled with AI-driven projects in road safety, smart air filters, and supply chain optimization, showcases 3M’s dedication to shaping the future of technology.

As we explore 3M’s AI journey, we’ll see how this 120-year-old company is not just adapting to technological advancements but actively leading the charge in the AI era, demonstrating that innovation knows no age in the world of cutting-edge technology.

AI and Generative AI Initiatives

3M has been actively integrating AI and Generative AI across various sectors, particularly in healthcare and industrial applications. Here are some key initiatives:

Healthcare

3M Health Information Systems (HIS): Amazon Web Services and 3M Health Information Systems collaborated to improve the M*Modal ambient intelligence platform through the use of AI services like as Amazon Bedrock Generative AI service, Amazon Comprehend Medical, and Amazon Transcribe Medical. Through this partnership, real-time speech recognition and clinical documentation will be accelerated and scaled, freeing up doctors to concentrate more on patient care. The AI technology automates structured notes in the electronic health record (EHR), and it is compatible with more than 250 EHRs, which are utilised by over 300,000 doctors. “3M’s ambient capability allows our doctors to focus on what they do best—the medicine,” said Garri Garrison, Former President of 3M HIS. High-quality clinical documentation delivery was further expedited by AWS’s security and dependability, as demonstrated by 3M Fluency Align, which uses EHR data and patient-physician discussions to generate quality-reviewed notes for physician review.

Conversational AI: 3M™ M*Modal Fluency Align created time for care and enabled clinicians to focus on patients while it worked in the background. This ambient clinical documentation solution used conversational artificial intelligence (AI), generative AI, and ambient intelligence to automate clinical documentation, making it a byproduct of the patient visit rather than a separate, burdensome task for the physician.

3M’s Fluency Align utilized conversational AI to convert patient-physician interactions into structured electronic health records (EHRs). This significantly reduced the administrative burden on healthcare providers and improved patient care.

Industrial and Consumer Applications

Transportation and Safety: 3M has been a pioneer in integrating advanced technologies, including AI, to enhance transportation safety and efficiency. The company’s initiatives spanned various aspects of transportation, from road safety to vehicle manufacturing, leveraging its extensive expertise in materials science and data analytics. For road safety, 3M partnered with Mobileye, an Intel company, to use crowdsourced infrastructure asset data to improve road safety. The 3M™ Roadway Safety Asset Manager was a cloud-based platform that helped transportation authorities manage road assets like signs, pavement markings, and guardrails, allowing for scheduling maintenance, running analysis on digitized asset data, and enhancing safety through data integration and machine vision analysis. In urban mobility solutions, 3M provided cost-effective and easy-to-apply traffic infrastructure solutions, including retroreflective sheeting for traffic signs, high-performance pavement markings, and conspicuity tape for vehicles to enhance visibility and reduce accidents. 

3M’s Transportation Safety Division (TSD) was a leader in reflective sign manufacturing since 1939, developing digital printing solutions that met rigorous imaging requirements and industry specifications around color, retro-reflectivity, and durability, including collaborations with printer manufacturers to ensure high-quality, durable traffic signs. For vehicle and equipment safety, 3M designed and delivered solutions for the aerospace industry to create lighter, safer, and quieter aircraft, and for commercial vehicles, including trucks and buses, 3M provided adhesives, bonding tapes, and specialty materials to enhance safety and efficiency. Additionally, 3M offered a range of products to improve safety and productivity for vehicles such as ambulances, fire trucks, RVs, and personal recreation vehicles, including sealants, adhesives, and acoustic management solutions.

Wendy Bauer, Group President for the company’s Transportation and Electronics Business Group is leading this and she mentioned, “I believe in setting ambitious goals that inspire both the organization and stakeholders, and I understand the importance of aligning resources with strategic priorities while continuously building the capabilities needed to achieve long-term success.”

Manufacturing: 3M uses AI and machine learning extensively in its supply chain to enhance efficiency and reduce costs. AI is applied to detect customer disputes preemptively, thus reducing Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). Mani S Upadhyaya, Former Vice President of Data & Analytics at 3M in an exclusive interview with AIM mentioned that 3M employed a robust strategy to integrate digital technologies into its supply chain, focusing on enhancing efficiency and reducing waste. Throughout the pandemic, they leveraged Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to optimize the yield of N-95 respirators. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) played pivotal roles in their operations. AI was utilized to preemptively detect customer disputes, effectively reducing Days Sales Outstanding (DSO). Additionally, AI supported predictive maintenance, quality control, and supply chain optimization efforts. Customizing marketing messages to customers was another area where AI enhanced effectiveness. Across product development, research and development, finance, sales, marketing, sourcing, supply chain, and manufacturing, 3M utilized machine learning to detect anomalies in manufacturing processes and optimize supplier negotiations by analyzing historical data on prices, demand, and other pertinent factors.

Across all of its business divisions, 3M uses AI to improve customer service and expedite processes. For instance, AI is used in its Health Information Systems (HIS) business to evaluate medical information, assisting customers in providing patients with the best possible care at a reasonable cost. In a similar vein, artificial intelligence (AI) is critical to 3M’s Personal Safety and Transportation Safety divisions, evaluating traffic and environmental data to guarantee the security of personnel and machinery. AI forecasts furnace filter life in the area of Construction and Home Improvement Markets. Furthermore, 3M uses AI to increase manufacturing quality and optimise the efficiency of the supply chain.

Many types of filters, textiles, and insulation—including necessities like N95 masks—have been made possible by melt-blown nonwoven materials. More than 300,000 tonnes of melt-blown nonwoven materials are produced annually by producers worldwide. Researchers from 3M and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory used resources from the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) to simulate and optimise manufacturing procedures in order to reduce the energy footprint of this process. This project was funded by ALCF, an Argonne user facility for the DOE Office of Science. The goal of the study was to reduce overall energy use by twenty percent. The Argonne-3M project used machine learning (ML), data analysis, and simulations to reduce energy consumption in the melt-blowing production process without sacrificing material quality.

“The active ML approaches enabled by ALCF resources have allowed the team to accelerate development by utilizing known data and building models that predict outcomes without further experimentation.” Alex Flage, Process Development Engineer at 3M

Home Improvement: 3M’s FiltreteTM line of smart air filters and related products has revolutionised indoor air quality management via creative use of AI. With the use of Bluetooth-enabled sensors, their smart air filter tracks airflow and usage trends in real-time and notifies homeowners through a smartphone app when it’s time to change the filter. This is enhanced by the FiltreteTM Smart App, which provides customised insights based on certain home situations, such as information on outside air quality and personalised reminders for filter changes said David Frazee. In order to precisely estimate filter life and ensure prompt replacements that maximise indoor air quality and HVAC efficiency, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms examine HVAC usage, airflow, air quality measures, seasonal fluctuations, and home-specific factors. 

Brian Clark is leading the Generative AI Center of Excellence (CoE) Action Office at 3M, focusing on integrating generative artificial intelligence across the company. This initiative involves setting the roadmap and driving the strategy for generative AI, developing a responsible AI framework, engaging stakeholders for unified integration, prioritizing high-impact AI solutions, and managing change to enable AI-enhanced solutions and workflows. The goal is to revolutionize collaboration and innovation within 3M, driving competitive advantage and transforming business operations through the ethical and effective use of AI technologies.

Global Capability Centers (GCC) in India

3M has strategically integrated AI and machine learning across its operations in India, focusing on enhancing sales forecasting precision and optimizing supply chain efficiency. Shaun Braun, Former Senior Vice President of Digital Transformation at 3M, had emphasized that the tech hub in Bengaluru is crucial for realizing 3M’s vision of becoming a digitally connected company. The center will play a pivotal role in integrating advanced analytics, automation, and AI/ML capabilities into 3M’s operations.

The Managing Director of 3M India, Ramesh Ramadurai, is actively interested in utilising Generative AI and AI to spur innovation and improve internal operations. The creation and use of AI-powered healthcare solutions, with a special emphasis on medical coding and clinical documentation, is one of his major projects. This involves automating and optimising documentation procedures with generative AI to lower administrative costs and increase accuracy.

By leveraging cloud-based solutions such as Microsoft Azure, 3M ensures its sales forecasting aligns with industry-leading data science practices. This approach not only improves forecasting accuracy but also streamlines supply chain operations, ensuring timely and efficient distribution of products. Additionally, Ashish Shrivastava, Generative AI Platform Leader at 3M spearheads the development of a multi-cloud Generative AI platform. This platform facilitates rapid deployment of large language models across various business sectors, empowering the creation of AI-driven solutions tailored to diverse applications.

In Bengaluru, 3M’s Global Capability Center (GCC) is at the forefront of advancing intelligent automation solutions. Their initiatives encompass robotic process automation (RPA), digital orchestration, AI for IT operations (AIOps), and machine learning. These technologies not only streamline processes but also enhance operational efficiency and decision-making capabilities across 3M’s global footprint. 

Current Hiring in AI and Data Science

Job Openings in the United States:

Data Science Jobs: As of now, there are approximately 60 Data Science job openings at 3M in the United States, with 3 new positions recently added.

Internship and Entry-Level Opportunities:

R&D Internships: 3M offers R&D internships where interns work on advanced technologies and products in corporate research labs. These internships often focus on areas like machine learning, deep learning, data science, and AI.

Student Programs: 3M provides various programs for students and entry-level candidates, including opportunities to work on real-world projects and develop professional skills in AI and data science fields.

In 3M’s long history of innovation, the company’s strategic adoption of AI and Generative AI, also led by its Global Capability Centre in Bengaluru, represents a turning point. Through the smooth integration of state-of-the-art AI technology into its wide range of applications, ranging from industrial to healthcare, 3M is actively creating the future rather than only reacting to it. This establishes a new benchmark for how multinational corporations can use AI to spur innovation, improve productivity, and generate value across industries, proving that even century-old businesses can be leaders in the digital era.