On Thursday 9th November six IFST members from the Eastern and South East branches enjoyed an interactive tour of the 3M Customer Innovation Centre at Bracknell, where they saw in practice how 3M Science is applied to life. During one of the product demonstrations, there was an opportunity to test out the strength of the 3M VHB Tape as shown below (thanks Belinda for volunteering!)
The story of how the Post-It note came about and other innovation stories were also shared.
During the visit to the Analytical Laboratory, delegates learnt how many technologies, including Scanning Electron Microscopy, Infra-Red Microscopy as well as LC-MS and GC-MS and other instrumentation are used in product analysis, supporting the 5 UK manufacturing plants, as well as for carrying out trouble shooting, method development, new product development, regulatory and legal due diligence requirements and complaint analysis.
So from Post-It notes, to microscopic glass bubbles that are used to make aeroplanes and cars lighter, the visit covered a diverse range of innovative products, with applications across many industries. There’s plenty more to explore another time too!