{"id":225509,"date":"2016-10-04T13:37:09","date_gmt":"2016-10-04T16:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/?p=225509"},"modified":"2016-10-04T13:37:09","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T16:37:09","slug":"intense-renewal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/intense-renewal\/","title":{"rendered":"Intense renewal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Camila

L\u00e9o Ramos<\/span><\/a> Camila Cruz Durlacher, 3M\u2019s director of R&D, at left with some of her team in Sumar\u00e9 (SP)L\u00e9o Ramos<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Using science to improve peoples\u2019 lives while at the same time constantly working to update the product line.\u00a0 These directives guide performance of the 8,200 professionals employed worldwide by the research and development unit (R&D) of the US company 3M.\u00a0 A presence in Brazil for 70 years, the company has a world-class facility in Sumar\u00e9, a city some 100 kilometers away from S\u00e3o Paulo.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s 3M\u2019s main research laboratory in the southern hemisphere,\u201d says Camila Cruz Durlacher, the unit\u2019s 42-year-old R&D director in Brazil.\u00a0 The company makes a diversified product line that includes adhesives, industrial filters, dental resins, personal protection equipment (PPE), stethoscopes and power transmission cables in addition to the ubiquitous Post-It Notes, Scotch tape and Scotch-Brite sponges.<\/p>\n

Proof that innovation really is a strategic guideline for the company\u2019s business is the fact that 35% of its global sales come from products introduced in just the last five years \u2013 a percentage that is a bit lower in Brazil (28%).\u00a0 \u201cOur global objective is to raise this rate to 40% by 2020.\u00a0 Aggressive product renovation is one of our trademarks,\u201d says Durlacher, who earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Campinas (Unicamp) and her master\u2019s degree in materials science and engineering from the Federal University of S\u00e3o Carlos (UFSCar).\u00a0 The internal metrics that drive innovation at 3M was christened the New Product Vitality Index (NPVI), which measures the percentage of total sales from innovative products introduced all over the world in the past five years.\u00a0 Created by company technicians in the 1980s, today it is used by other companies such as Apple, Braskem, Dow and Natura, as a way to measure a company\u2019s level of innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Company<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3M<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
R&D Center<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sumar\u00e9 (SP)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Number of employees<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
162<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Principal products<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Adhesives, industrial filters, resins, sponges, stethoscopes and power transmission cables<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Constant renovation of the portfolio is rooted in new R&D investments.\u00a0 In 2015, they accounted for US$1.8 billion, equivalent to 6% of global sales, which reached US$30.3 billion.\u00a0 In Brazil, nearly 5% of income, which totaled R$3.5 billion in 2015, was allocated to R&D.\u00a0 The outcome of this investment translates to the launch of 80-100 new products in Brazil every year.\u00a0 \u201cOver the years, we\u2019ve applied for 5,800 patents (most for products developed in other countries) in Brazil.\u00a0 Since 2013, we\u2019ve accounted for an annual average of 47 patents and industrial design registrations \u2013 nearly four per month,\u201d says Durlacher.\u00a0 Globally, the company registered its 100,000th<\/sup> patent in 2015.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s ongoing effort to create new technological solutions has been widely recognized.\u00a0 In 2015, 3M was named, for the third time, the most innovative company in Brazil, according to the Best Innovator survey conducted annually by the A.T. Kearney consulting firm, sponsored by the magazine \u00c9poca Neg\u00f3cios<\/em>.\u00a0 \u201c3M Brazil is a source of new products for the firm\u2019s subsidiaries elsewhere in the world.\u00a0 The company doesn\u2019t just develop products; it develops complete systems around them,\u201d wrote the editors of Best Innovator during the award presentation.<\/p>\n

\"Analysis

L\u00e9o Ramos<\/span>Analysis of microorganisms in food security laboratoryL\u00e9o Ramos<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Innovations at 3M are classified as one of three categories: incremental, adjacent and radical.\u00a0 Those from class 3 related to incremental innovation includes examples of a new version of Scotch-Brite that works better.\u00a0 Those of class 4, adjacent innovations, are existing products or technologies that have undergone some sort of modification or are now targeting a new market. This can take the form of an industrial filter, developed by the company based on existing filters in their portfolio, but targeted to the Brazilian oil and gas market.\u00a0 The class 5 category related to radical innovation represents brand new items created to serve a market segment in which the company had not yet been active, such as a dust control spray.<\/p>\n

In Brazil, new products are developed by a team of 162 professionals made up of chemists, engineers (mechanical chemical, materials and physics), biologists and pharmacologists.\u00a0 Half of them have completed or are pursuing graduate studies \u2013 10% have doctorates, 24% have master\u2019s degrees, 7% are pursuing master\u2019s degrees and 8% are pursuing MBAs.\u00a0 The R&D team supports the company\u2019s 23 business units in Brazil, the largest of which have dedicated laboratories.\u00a0 The group has five plants in S\u00e3o Paulo and one unit in Manaus, state of Amazonas, in addition to the companies Incavas, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, and Capital Safety, in Paran\u00e1.\u00a0 In all, 3M Brazil employs 3,800 people.<\/p>\n

\"Test

L\u00e9o Ramos<\/span>Test for characterization of mineral particles used to develop abrasivesL\u00e9o Ramos<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

With operations in over 70 countries, 3M was established in the United States in 1902 as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. \u2013 thus explaining the 3 Ms in its name.\u00a0 The mining business failed to prosper so a few years later, 3M began to manufacture abrasive materials.\u00a0 These were the first products for the company that today owns a portfolio that comprises over 55,000 items.<\/p>\n

Organizational changes<\/strong>
\nR&D operations in Brazil are some of the company\u2019s oldest\u00a0 \u2013 commencing shortly after the 1946 establishment of 3M\u2019s first plant in Brazil.\u00a0 \u201cIn the seven decades in which 3M has operated here, what changed was the way we organize R&D.\u00a0 In the past, the sector was tied to manufacturing.\u00a0 Then it started to report to the business divisions and then in the late 1990s, it was finally set up as an executive office of R&D,\u201d Durlacher notes.<\/p>\n

\"Morphological

L\u00e9o Ramos<\/span>Morphological assessment of double-sided tapeL\u00e9o Ramos<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

An important event in the trajectory of the multinational in Brazil occurred in 2008 with the inauguration of the Research & Development Laboratory in Sumar\u00e9 (SP), which essentially brought together the innovative activities that had been carried out at the plant and became part of the global 3M R&D network comprised of 35 units.\u00a0 With this, the Brazil laboratory is now considered world-class, no longer focusing exclusively on the creation of products based on local demand, as in the past.\u00a0 Five years later, in 2013, the company invested US$13 million to expand the R&D Laboratory and its Customer Technical Center (CTC), which opened in 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe CTC is the link between R&D and the customer,\u201d explains chemical engineer Edmilson Silva Cavalcanti, 51, in charge of developing new product applications for the industrial tapes and adhesives division.\u00a0 \u201cThere we do quality control on our products before final delivery, train customers and conduct validation tests,\u201d says Cavalcanti, at 3M since 1990.\u00a0 Embraer, Natura, Vale and Santander are among the multinational\u2019s main customers, along with such companies as automobile and home appliance manufacturers, pharmaceutical firms, hospitals, oil and gas, and food companies.<\/p>\n

\"Corporate\"<\/a>Noteworthy among the hundreds of innovations developed by 3M in Brazil is a dust control liquid aimed at the mining industry.\u00a0 The product is sprayed on the open iron ore freight cars, , forming a protective film that retains dust and prevents the loss of material along the way during train travel.\u00a0 \u201cWe created this product for the local market.\u00a0 Due to its success, it\u2019s now produced and sold by other subsidiaries today,\u201d says chemist Jo\u00e3o Roberto Talamoni, 56, one of 3M\u2019s most experienced researchers.\u00a0 Employed by the company for 29 years, he is technical coordinator of one of 3M\u2019s laboratories devoted to polymer synthesis.\u00a0 Another distinctive product developed in Brazil was a high-flow industrial filter designed for the oil and gas market.\u00a0 Local development was driven mainly by national content regulations in oil and gas market concession contracts, enacted for the purpose of increasing the domestic industry\u2019s ability to participate on a competitive basis in exploration and production programs.\u00a0 \u201cWe led the development, which included a team involving 3M US, Mexico and Singapore,\u201d underscores chemical engineer Rosana Emi Tamagawa, 43.\u00a0 \u201cThe product was born out of a need in the domestic market, but today it\u2019s available all over the world.\u201d\u00a0 Overseeing the laboratory that supports the 3M business division, Tamagawa is a graduate of the Lorena School of Engineering, earned master\u2019s and doctoral degrees from Unicamp, as well as a post-doctorate from the Institute for Technological Research (IPT).<\/p>\n

The team of Brazilian scientists has also been involved in developing a new generation of double-sided acrylic tapes known as VHB (very high bond).\u00a0 The product has superior bonding capacity for securing various materials, thus reducing application times.\u00a0 As a replacement for nails, rivets and screws, these tapes are used, for example, to secure glass building facades, panels on the bodywork of buses, parts in aircraft cabins and structural components in major home appliances.\u00a0 \u201cIn January 2016, I went to South Korea to meet with the global team involved in developing the new VHB tapes, scheduled for market launch in the second half of this year,\u201d says 37-year-old chemical engineer M\u00e1rcia Ferrarezi, who leads the project in Brazil and holds master\u2019s and doctorates in materials sciences and engineering from the Federal University of S\u00e3o Carlos (UFSCar).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3M is investing in R&D and creating its own metrics to drive innovation ","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1567,169],"tags":[243],"coauthors":[116],"class_list":["post-225509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corporate-research-en","category-technology","tag-innovation"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225509\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225509"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=225509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}