Coronavirus: Bracknell 3M boss on taking on Donald Trump

3M is a technology company which has been ramping up its manufacturing of respirators at facilities around the world to meet the increased demand for supplies in the battle against coronavirus.

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The firm, which has offices and factories across the globe, has raised its profile in the last few months in light of the pandemic and has even squared up to US President Donald Trump recently.

One of those bases is in Bracknell on Cain Road, where bosses look after the sales, customer service and HR for its Northern Europe operations.

John Klee is one of those bosses, and the corporate communications manager told the News everyone at the company is “working around the clock” in response to the pandemic.

He added: “At 3M everybody is feeling very proud of the company and what it is doing because we are making respirators which our frontline healthcare workers need and we produce them in absolutely massive volumes.

“We could not be making any more than we are at the moment.

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“As an organisation, we don’t tend to attract much media attention. You don’t see many 3M logos on products because most of the things we make end up in other people’s end products.

“Even though we’re remote from the production facilities we are working around the clock, and certainly, with the communications team, it has taken a lot of resources to deal with all the enquiries just from the media.”

There are around 400 employees working at 3M’s Bracknell base, and John’s job is make sure all employees are aware of what the company is doing in response to coronavirus.

But currently, these employees are working from home during the lockdown, which makes communication more “complicated” — especially as there are thousands of other 3M staff from nine Northern European countries reporting to the Bracknell site.

The message for staff from John is clear, however.

“Part of my role is making sure the employees are aware of what is going on around the place, even though they’re working from home”, he added.

“It’s really about supporting our organisation to make sure everybody is focused on doing the most good for the NHS.”

Some employees, and members of the public, may have spotted recent news articles about a struggle between Donald Trump and 3M.

The President blocked the technology firm from shipping three million respirator masks to Canada at the start of April after claiming: “We need the masks. We don’t want other people getting it.”

These face masks filter are wanted for frontline healthcare workers because they filter out 95 per cent of airborne particles, protecting doctors and nurses against coronavirus.

Despite the tussle, the N95 masks will now be delivered to Ontario after the White House struck a deal with 3M which will see hundreds of millions of respirators make their way to the United States over the next three months, The Guardian and CNN reported.

Reacting to the confrontation, John told the News: “The things we make in the US, that’s not just for the US -- that’s for Canada and Latin America as well.

“Our approach is global, we don’t think in country terms.

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“Politicians obviously work to a different agenda on that but our focus is very much about, particularly at times like this, the humanitarian response.

“We’ve got an obligation to people wherever they are.

“We’re not interested in the country boundaries.

“We just think about making sure we get those products to where they are needed most.”