After Meta, Twitter, American conglomerate 3M joins the layoff drive, likely to cut about 6,000 positions globally

After rounds of layoffs at Meta, Twitter, and Amazon, here comes the news of a layoff from another American multinational conglomerate. 3M Co. The company, known for its business in the fields of industry, worker safety, healthcare, and consumer goods, said on Tuesday it would cut about 6,000 positions globally as the US industrial conglomerate looks to focus on high-growth businesses, including automotive electrification and home improvement.

Shares of St. Paul, the Minnesota-based company, were up 1.6 per cent to $106.7 in premarket trade.

The move comes as consumers are cutting back on discretionary spending as a series of interest rate hikes over the past year to bring down stubbornly high inflation have stoked fears of an economic downturn.

3M, which makes everything from 'Scotch' tape to 'Post-it' notes, from power tools to medical products, has been raising prices to offset a hit from surging commodity costs.

"We announced actions that will reduce costs at the corporate centre, further simplify and strengthen our supply chain structure, and streamline our go-to-market business models, which will improve margins and cash flow," said 3M CEO Mike Roman.

These restructuring actions are expected to affect all functions, businesses, and geographies, the company said, adding that the job cuts are in addition to the reduction of 2,500 roles announced earlier this year.

The company said in January that it would cut 2,500 manufacturing jobs as it reported lower profits. Alongside this, the company feared that there would be very low US growth in 2023 of about 1.0 percent, compared to the global average of 1.5 percent.

As per various media reports, the company has undertaken this structural reorganisation to reduce the size of the corporate centre of the company, simplify the supply chain, streamline 3M's geographic footprint, reduce layers of management, and further align business go-to-market models with customers.

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