3M Separation and Purification Solutions

3M Separation and Purification Solutions

Headquarters	Bengaluru Karnataka India
Key people	Vishesh Nigam
Products	Water Purification and Filtration
Revenue	$574.625 million
Number of employees	2,200
Website	www.3mindia.in/3M/en_IN/purification-in/

3M Separation and Purification Solutions division, a division of 3M India, is in the business of designing, manufacturing, and marketing of filtration products used in the separation, clarification, and purification of fluids and gases. The company provides total purification solutions for life sciences, residential air and water filtration, industrial filtration, food beverage manufacturing, food service, and custom engineered products sectors.

The company’s estimated revenue stood at $574.625 million from its global operations and employees around 2,200 people worldwide.

History

3M was seeking to improve and augment its solutions delivery capabilities when it hit upon the idea of acquiring CUNO, a major player in the filtration and separation business. CUNO, founded by Charles Cuno in the United States in 1912, developed filtration products such as engine and hydraulic metal filters for the automotive industry. In the 1960s, filtration and separation was the primary focus of the company before it became part of Commercial Intertech in 1986 and, in September 1996, a publicly listed company (NASDAQ: CUNO). On 1 August 2005, 3M acquired CUNO to combine its separation and filtration experience with its own advanced materials innovation experience. In November 2009, 3M CUNO was rechristened as 3M Purification Inc. In August 2015, 3M acquired the Separations Media business of Polypore International Inc. a leading provider of microporous membranes and modules for filtration in the life sciences, industrial and specialty segments. In 2016, 3M reorganized its business reporting into five segments: industrial, safety and graphics, healthcare, electronics and energy, and consumer businesses. 3M Separation and Purification Solution division comes under 3M’s industrial business segment.

Operations

3M Separation and Purification division of 3M India operates eight manufacturing facilities present in the United States, Europe, Japan, Brazil and Australia. It has sales offices throughout the world, serving a $3 billion market that is currently growing at a rate of seven to eight percent annually.

Markets

In 2014, a third of 3M’s revenues came from the Industrial segment that 3M Purification Inc. belonged to. The growing number of middle-class households in India and China and their lifestyle expectations helped contribute to the growth of 3M’s filtration and healthcare products. In India, the market for water purification equipment is expected to grow 24% annually through 2018. On the other hand, growth is much slower at around 6% per year in developed markets such as the U.S.