In brief: 3M tightens purse strings

NEWS 3M, the US manufacturing giant, is to undergo a $500m cost cutting exercise, which will see it close plants, trim product lines, and cut 4,500 jobs by end of 1999. Chairman, Livio DeSimone, said the company faces "an unusually strong set of challenges". Chief among these, he claimed, is the Asian crisis, which will account for an expected four per cent drop in growth this year. DeSimone also cited slowdowns in US and international markets as reasons for the restructuring. A company spokesman said many of the job losses will be due to attrition, but warned of the possible closure of a number of factories in the US and overseas. He added that 3M also intends to make more small and "fair-sized" acquisitions in areas such as healthcare and connector manufacturing.