In the early 1920s, Dick Drew created the masking tape to meet the need of the auto paint shops. Most of us could have stopped there because the sales for masking tape were substantial. Not Dick. Instead, he wondered what else he could do with the masking tape technology. He saw his role as creating new uses for adhesives, not marketing more masking tape.
He progressed onto Scotch cellophane tape that has become a ubiquitous product in our households. Scotch tape was invented in 1929 for an industrial customer who used it to seal insulation in an airtight shipping package.
Then, there are 3M reflective traffic signages. As you travel down major highways at night, you will come across huge, bright green signs with the road names in either white or yellow, and reflective, to catch your attention. These are 3M products. In 1939, 3M combined the masking tap technology with the glass beads project technology and developed a weatherable film with reflective properties for traffic road signage. Today, improvement to the original version of traffic road signage can be found in products like Scotchlite, High Intensity, and Diamond Grade, all 3M patented products. Most road signs around the world are serviced by one of these products.
You board a double-decker bus in London. You are impressed by the huge ads hugging the sides of the bus. You wonder how long it took for advertisers to paint the bus. Now, here is the value. The advertisers do not pain the buses. Using a process called silkscreen, they transfer the ad messages onto non-reflective films that are then carefully positioned onto the buses. You guessed right. It is yet another 3M product called Scotchcal that was invented in 1953 to meet the needs of aircraft signage. Scotchcal combines the adhesive technology with another newly discovered 3M technology in polyester (PET) film.
You are walking towards a glass wall. The glass wall is so well polished that you would hardly know that it is there. You could almost have crashed into it if it were not for a thin, blue strip in the middle. Another 3M product? Yes, and it is called Controltac. Water is used to adjust the film’s position onto the medium. eM’s Controltac graphic markings are used as effective travelling ad. They are used for fleet markings, car decoration and awning designs. The word, ‘Fedex’, on the sides of the Fedex vans is probably made from 3M’s Controltac. So are colourful awnings on top of Z and BP petrol kiosks.
You drive along a particularly hazardous stretch of highway. You recognise that not only are the signage reflective, even the road pavement markings do the same. You have probably encountered yet another 3M product called Stamark. Stamark’s strength is its ability to retain retro-reflectivity.
You are going overseas. With your passport, you visit the immigration booth. The officer scans its data into the computer system. She verifies your passport to ensure that it has not been tampered with. With her blessings, you are cleared to proceed. Your passport may yet be protected by a unique 3M security film.
You injured your finger while cutting a pineapple. Blood is oozing out in small drops onto the cutting board. It is not serious but it requires attention. You open your pantry to look for your first aid box. Inside, you find 3M’s Active strips, flexible foam bandages as well as Micropore. You choose Active because it adheres better to moist skin. Active is yet another 3M product that represents a combination of the masking tape and medical technologies. Then, there are 3M Tegasorb ulcer dressings, 3M Tegaderm transparent dressings, and 3M Minitran transdermal delivery system that are able to dissolve the drug in the adhesive.
You enter your office. On your desk is a file with a piece of Post-It note paper informing you who will be coming by later in the afternoon. You look at the Post-It board on your wall. It shows you the key tasks that you have to complete by the end of the day. You are reading the documents in your file. Your colleague has flagged down a document for you to sign using, yes, yet another 3M product – the Post-It tape flag.
I could go on and on. The point is clear. 3M people have this uncanny ability to ask the right questions and come up with different uses for the same product or, if I may add, the same technology. They have also been able to combine existing technology with new ones to create new products.
Now, that is creativity.
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