More on McNerney

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, June 30, 2005

Newspapers around 3M’s hometown of Minneapolis took a look at his legacy at the company, both of them quoting a local university professor who is, to say the least, not a McNerny fan.

Key Quote from the St. Paul Pioneer Press: “While McNerney deserves credit for instilling discipline and accountability at 3M, he also may be faulted for not laying the groundwork for long-term success, said Fred Zimmerman, a manufacturing professor at the University of St. Thomas. ‘I think that this move will be better for 3M than it will be for Boeing,’ Zimmerman said. ‘Now they have an opportunity to perhaps return to their roots a little bit and make sure that they have the innovation and the marketing and the product development capabilities that have been the distinction of the company in the past.’ “

Key Quote from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “‘Sometimes it’s easier to look good than be good,’ said Fred Zimmerman, professor of manufacturing at the University of St. Thomas. He was particularly skeptical of the long-term effects of job cuts at 3M, where worldwide employment at the start of 2005 was 67,000, down from 75,000 when McNerney started at the company. Spending on research and development remained flat during McNerney’s tenure, at $1.1 billion, even as 3M’s sales rose 20 percent, or $3.3 billion.”

Here are the links:

http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/12028303.htm

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1405/5485378.html

Btw … I’ve talked with a couple rank-and-file workers since yesterday. Feeling seems to be some disappointment that Alan Mulally didn’t get the top job, and a sense of wait-and-see about the new guy.