May 8: Inge Thulin officially succeeds George Buckley as chairman and CEO at 3M's annual meeting.

June 21: 3M agrees to buy the business of Federal Signal Technologies Group from Federal Signal Corp. for $110 million.

Sept. 26: 3M announces it will build a $150 million research facility at its Maplewood campus.

Oct. 1: 3M announces it will acquire Ceradyne Inc., a California-based advanced ceramics company, for $860 million.

Oct. 3: 3M announces it will reorganize its major businesses into five divisions instead of six. 3M also terminates a $550 million deal for Avery's office products division, first announced in January, after federal regulators threatened to block the deal.