How 3M uses GitHub

3M transforms its software toolchain to bring cutting-edge science to customers, faster.

Overview

Location: St. Paul, MN
Industry: Technology
Seats: 2,100+

Key metrics:

3,000 Innersource repositories
3,650% more deployments per 60 days

The Challenge

With more than 90,000 employees and over 60,000 products, 3M faced significant software management challenges. Disparate tooling forced developers to context switch frequently across different systems, reducing productivity and developer satisfaction. Code was scattered across multiple repositories using different commercially available systems, creating knowledge silos that hindered collaboration.

The Solution

3M standardized on GitHub as a unified platform for software development across the organization. This centralized approach supports 3M's innersource strategy—sharing code and collaborating across development teams—while providing secure hosting for all codebases, from automotive and adhesive products to health care devices.

3M: Individual sitting in front of computers at a research Lab

Unified Development Environment

By consolidating on GitHub, 3M eliminated the need for developers to switch between separate project management tools, spreadsheets, and other systems. "With GitHub, we can collaborate better across our various environments," said Tina Beamer, 3M IT Manager of Operations and Quality. "You don't have to go out to a separate project management tool. You don't have to go to a spreadsheet, or a Microsoft project, or into Jira. It's all on GitHub. It's made us more productive."

The 3M Health Care Business Group now has a central place to share code and manage secure DevOps pipelines. Code sharing has grown dramatically—from nothing to almost 3,000 innersource repositories—enabling teams to eliminate duplicative efforts and tap the organization's collective knowledge.

Accelerated Deployment and Development

Standardizing on GitHub enabled 3M to automate workflows using GitHub Actions, reducing friction in the development environment. Since 2015, the company has increased deployments from 400 in 60 days to 15,000—a 3,650% improvement.

Woman applying 3M film onto a car window

"The less friction we have in our development environment, the faster we can go," explains Rob Fuchsteiner, 3M Director, Digital Product Center of Excellence. "GitHub powers these pipelines and enables us to work so much faster."

Security and Shift-Left Strategy

GitHub is central to 3M's shift-left security approach. Using GitHub Advanced Security, the company seamlessly identifies vulnerable dependencies, code, and containers before deployment. Developers receive actionable information to address security issues in production environments.

3M Employee working in an office

Dependabot has been particularly valuable for identifying and responding to vulnerabilities in software dependencies. When a code vulnerability is discovered, 3M can quickly identify everywhere it was implemented across the organization and work directly with development teams to upgrade and mitigate risks.

This security infrastructure has fostered a new security culture at 3M. Developers now proactively consider dependencies and security when filing pull requests, thinking carefully about what enters the codebase from the start.

Results

The standardization on GitHub has improved not just speed to market, but also code quality and teamwork across the organization. "GitHub allows us to develop more stable and reliable applications at a faster cadence," said Paul Pottorff, 3M Cloud and Security Architect. "Pipelines that function smoothly allow us to more quickly and securely deliver new features to our customers."

3M continues to migrate additional code repositories into GitHub, leveraging GitHub Professional Services and migration tools. The platform has increased transparency and cooperation globally, enabling collaboration in ways that were not previously possible.