3M - (originally Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company), founded in 1902, is an American multinational conglomerate operating in the industrial, occupational safety, and consumer goods industries.
3M had been producing magnetic recording tape since 1947, with "Scotch" sound recording tape becoming one of the company's commercial products. Subsequently, 3M developed a full-fledged Magnetic Products Division.
The company worked on developing its own magnetic coatings during the late 1960s and early 1970s:
The technology combining cobalt-doped (or cobalt-modified) magnetic oxide with a double-coating process formed the basis of the famous Scotch High Energy tape, developed by 3M around 1970.
By 1967, the company operated three full-scale American magnetic tape plants: Hutchinson, Minnesota; Freehold, New Jersey; and Camarillo, California.
3M maintained its own international network for the production of magnetic tape and cassettes.
Plants in the UK included Gorseinon (South Wales), which produced magnetic tape starting in 1952 and launched automated compact cassette assembly in 1976 (closing in 2002), and Slough (UK), which produced magnetic tape.
Plants in Italy included Caserta/San Marco Evangelista, which produced magnetic recording media from the 1970s, and Ferrania (acquired by 3M in 1964), which produced both magnetic and photographic media.
The Gorseinon plant served the UK, EFTA, the Eastern Bloc, and part of the EEC, while the Caserta plant served other EEC countries.
In 1996, 3M exited the magnetic tape business by selling the relevant assets to Quantegy, a company linked to the former Ampex tape business.