History of 3M Pittsboro

In the early 1980’s, 3M began studying options to open a granule manufacturing facility in the southeastern part of the country. Testing showed that the rock formations and conditions were right for a granule manufacturing facility just southwest of Raleigh, North Carolina. 3M started to acquire properties in the mid 1980’s and over the next 15-20 years developed enough property holdings to support a granule manufacturing operation.

Today, the Pittsboro plant has state of the art process control systems. All systems have automated human machine interface controls backed by programmable logic controllers. We have the ability to track and alarm process variables against limits. These technologies give us a strong quality and lean advantage to our operation. In addition, we operate crushing and screen processes which collaborate to optimize our raw material yield and provide a consistent granule dimension.

We also have technologies for heat treating, curing and cooling. These systems are connected through a series of material conveyors. We have finished product storage and a shipping system that has been stream lined with special tankers to allow fast turns to local customers and to the rail yard for rail car transloading and shipping.