Post Learning Journey Reflection: 3M (Part 2)

In my previous article, it basically dealt with my general feelings and takeaways from my first industrial visit. In this article, Part 2, I would be talking about the products and the manufacturing of them.

2 products which really interested me would be the good old masking tape as well as the flexi-circuits. Both were touched on during the presentations by the 3M representatives.

Masking tape should be quite familiar to all of us. Whether be it in home décor or arts and crafts, everyone would have used masking tape before. It turns out that masking tape developed naturally out of 3M’s innovations. Already specializing in adhesives such as Scotch Tapes or glue, one of its employees Richard Drew noticed how car painters faced problems of painting two tone cars since the butcher paper they used resulted in paint peeling. That resulted in the development and eventual invention of the masking tape, which I am sure most of us are familiar with.

Example of a two-tone car. It is basically a car with 2 types of colors for its paint job

One of the basic scientific principles that went towards the development of the masking tape would be the tried and testing process. Numerous tests were conducted to see the level of adhesion needed to experience maximum success. Without this persistence and determination of Richard Drew and his team, I am sure most of us won’t get a chance to use such great masking tape.

The next product was really something I have never seen before. A flexi-circuit. So, what is a flexi circuit?

From 3M’s website, it basically is a high density interconnects for microelectronic packaging. They are used in a wide variety of applications such as data storage, printers and medical devices. Take a look at this picture, it is a flexible circuit that is constructed through 3M’s additive technology.

This really shocked and interested me as I never really thought that a printer might make use of a flexible circuit.

But what really surprised me is how it is used in medical industry. It is actually used in medical imaging such as ultrasound transducers and digital X-ray sensors with greater sensitivity. This is definitely a revolutionary piece of technology that will change and improve the quality of medical fields in terms of resolving minute anomalies that might not even be detected with past generations of technology.

I guess one principle that was strongly applied for this innovation was in terms of how 3M knew that it had to collaborate across different fields; in this case it was the medical industry. (I actually discussed 3M’s focus on collaboration and teamwork in my previous article)

This concludes my second article and my next and final part will deal with the questions posted by the engineers from 3M.

The 3M plant that we got to visit

Resources


- http://solutions.3m.com.sg/3MContentRetrievalAPI/BlobServlet?locale=en_US&lmd=1302203019000&assetId=1273680527699&assetType=MMM_Image&blobAttribute=ImageFile
- http://www.3m.com/product/information/Flexible-Circuit.html
- http://solutions.3m.com.sg/wps/portal/3M/en_SG/FlexibleCircuits/Home/Applications/