A 3M plant built on an area of 50,000 square meters was put into operation at Caohejing Pujiang High-Tech Park on October 13 to produce medical devices and materials.

The plant, the first phase of the 3M Asia-Pacific production base, costs 300 million yuan in investment and has 16,000 square meters of factory buildings, said a 3M senior manager.

"The move marks that 3M has completed its strategic development layout which consists of R&D, production, logistics and customer service," said Kenneth Yu, president of 3M China.

Yu said a great majority of products 3M has manufactured in China are sold to local markets, except medical products, 60 per cent of which are exported to the Asia-Pacific Region.

"The operation of the new plant will push forward the localization of R&D and production of 3M medical products," said Yu.

New medical products cover dental products and medical instruments. Dental products which plan to be produced between 2010 and 2012 are now heavily relying on imports.

"Localization of these products will greatly reduce costs," Yu said.