3M Co. will close its filtration products plant in Eagan by the end of 2018 as part of a larger realignment plan that will affect 430 employees in Minnesota, Mexico and other unnamed locations, company officials confirmed Wednesday.

The Eagan plant currently employs 150 workers who make commercial air filtration products, refrigeration filtration products and biopharmaceutical purification products.

3M spokeswoman Lori Anderson said 10 of the 150 workers in Eagan will move to 3M's Maplewood campus. The others will be allowed to apply for other posts within 3M.

The plant makes products that are being discontinued because they are not considered part of the company's core strategy.

"This decision is part of a realignment within our Separation and Purification Sciences business to place greater focus on key growth segments," Anderson said in an e-mail.

3M, a $30 billion multinational giant headquartered in Maplewood, intends to shift energies into different types of filtration, such as those that help food and beverage producers and specialty "ultra filtration" products used in medical fields.

During its annual outlook meeting with financial analysts on Tuesday, 3M CEO Inge Thulin noted that strategic business divestitures and factory consolidations and realignments are as important to 3M as its acquisitions as far as maintaining 3M's overall health and notably high margins.

In recent years, 3M has exited several businesses.

On Monday, 3M announced it will sell its fiber optics and copper telecommunications business to Corning Inc. for $900 million. The unit's roughly 500 employees are expected to join Corning if the deal closes next year as expected.

The company also has sold businesses in prisoner electronic monitoring business, identity management, pressurized foam adhesives, license-plate making and library systems.

3M's stock price rose 1 percent to close Wednesday at $239.11 a share.

Dee DePass • 612-673-7725