State officials gathered in Brookings to support the groundbreaking of 3M’s new expansion.
The 3M plant in Brookings was built over 50 years ago and remains the company’s largest health care manufacturing plant.
Ed Kaleta is the Senior Vice President of Global Government Affairs for 3M. He said the expansion will help people on a global scale.
“The construction underway now here at this plant means more space for manufacturing and distribution, more space for labs and offices, and more investment and growth here in Brookings, in the U.S., and in South Dakota. We’re grateful for our employees who, each day, make hundreds of surgical and medical products that used here in the U.S. and around the world,” said Kaleta.
Gov. Kristi Noem attended Friday's groundbreaking ceremony. She said this expansion shows what can happen when businesses, communities and state government cooperate.
“The innovation that we see here at 3M has a ripple effect on the other businesses surrounding it. I’m so incredibly proud of Brookings, and the things the mayor has facilitated, and the legislature has facilitated - innovation, thinking out-of-the-box," Noem said. "And what 3M does, and how they’re continuously doing that, is a spark plug to so many other business and entrepreneurs across the area.”
Other state officials in attendance included U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, U.S. Sen. John Thune, and Brookings Mayor Oepke Niemeyer.
Rounds took the opportunity to thank employees for their work during the pandemic.
“Things get done by people who show up. You showed up when a lot of other people did not. And that made a huge difference in the success of this facility. Folks in Aberdeen did exactly the same thing. During that time, as John said, in Aberdeen and elsewhere - produced over a billion of those products that were necessary at a time in which we desperately needed them throughout the world,” said Rounds.
The expansion officially began this week and is planned to be completed over the next three years.
