Former CEO Jim McNerney fostered cost-cutting cultures at Boeing and 3M, which had long legacies.
By Liz Fedor
January 30, 2024
While it’s been almost 19 years since McNerney was CEO of Maplewood-based 3M, his imprint on the corporation surfaced in an October Wall Street Journal story.
Boeing engineers contended their power and decision-making ability often was overridden by cost-conscious executives, including McNerney, in recent decades.
Similar concerns were expressed by 3M scientists and engineers in the Wall Street Journal story headlined “The Long Dry Spell at One of America’s Most Innovative Companies.”
The 2023 article said that 3M researchers “are encouraged to pursue incremental improvements to existing products rather than novel, swing-for-the fences breakthroughs.”
Rob Kieschke, a former 3M research director who left the company in 2022, was quoted as saying that elements of McNerney’s approach remain part of 3M’s culture. “McNerney installed ‘Six Sigma,’ a regimen used at GE to measure and standardize business practices but loathed by 3M researchers as a creativity ki-ler,” the article said.
McNerney’s history at 3M trailed him to Boeing. A 2014 article in the Seattle Times examined McNerney’s record at both GE and 3M.
A 3M manager said that McNerney’s attention to cost efficiencies led to “significantly greater [profit] margins,” while a Post-it note inventor said innovation declined drastically on McNerney’s watch.
In recent months, 3M has been dealing with large payouts to address litigation over its production of forever chemicals. Meanwhile, Boeing is in the early weeks of responding to the fallout of its 737 Max 9 door malfunction.
https://tcbmag.com/analysis-boeing-debacle-unmasks-tension-between-safety-and-profits/