| (1887
- 1978) |
| Inducted: |
1995 |
| Region: |
MidWest |
| Industry: |
Engineering
Manufacturing |
|
In 1907 William McKnight took a job as assistant bookkeeper at a nearly bankrupt sandpaper manufacturing company. Nine years later he introduced the company to research by spending $500 for a laboratory to test the quality of the company’s sandpaper. He also ordered the lab to search for new products. Half a century later McKnight retired as chairman of one of the largest and most prodigiously innovative companies in history–3M. Today 3M manufactures some 60,000 products. |
