3M Co., Minnesota's largest manufacturing company, is cutting its worldwide workforce by another 1,200 jobs, or 1.5 percent, in response to the global recession.

Fewer than half of the job cuts will be in the United States.

But "several hundred" jobs are being eliminated in Minnesota, with most of the job losses coming at the company's Maplewood campus, Jacqueline Berry, a 3M spokeswoman, said Tuesday. Some of the affected Minnesota employees were notified Monday.

In the industrial and transportation business segment, about 300 jobs are being ended, Berry said.

While some reductions were announced this week and last week, Berry said the 1,200 figure includes cuts that occurred earlier in the first quarter.

"All of the businesses are making business adjustments based on the current economic conditions," she said.

In January, 3M executives reported that they had reduced more than 2,400 positions worldwide during the fourth quarter in response to the economic slowdown. 3M's sales rose 3.3 percent to $25.3 billion for all of 2008, but dropped by 11.2 percent in the fourth quarter.

Patrick Campbell, 3M's chief financial officer, told Wall Street analysts in February that the company expected to make more job cuts in 2009. The first quarter ended Tuesday, and 3M previously estimated that first-quarter sales would slide by 15 to 18 percent. For all of 2009, 3M projected that its sales would be down 5 to 9 percent.

In 2008, the industrial and transportation segment, the largest of the company's six business segments, accounted for nearly one-third of 3M's revenue. Abrasives and industrial tapes are among the products produced in this area of 3M's portfolio.

Berry said that some job cuts were done last week in the safety, security and protection group, including about 40 in the occupational health and safety area.

"We are working hard to minimize the number of job eliminations," Berry said. "We've done a range of actions." 3M expects to save about $100 million this year by delaying merit-pay increases. It expects to save an additional $100 million through changes in banked vacation days for employees.

3M CEO George Buckley said during the fourth-quarter conference call that the company expects to save $235 million in 2009 from earlier job reductions. The company cut full-time jobs, placed some factory workers on furloughs and reduced contract workers.

3M, long a Minnesota institution, has operations in more than 60 countries, and about two-thirds of its revenue was generated outside the United States last year.

The work of 3M's display and graphics business was on display at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport this week as Northwest Airlines' symbols are being replaced with those of Delta Air Lines. 3M has the contract to convert the Northwest airport signs at gates, ticket counters, check-in areas and loading bridges to Delta's blue-and-red color scheme. As part of Delta's acquisition of Northwest, 3M is supplying the branded signage at airports around the world.

3M's stock closed at $49.72 on Tuesday, up $1.07 or 2.2 percent.

Liz Fedor • 612-673-7709