HP Enterprise Services today announced that 3M, which produces thousands of innovative products for dozens of diverse markets, has signed a multimillion dollar, three-year applications services agreement to help improve productivity, enabling the company to get innovative products into the market more quickly.

Under the agreement, HP will develop and manage a large portion of 3M's applications portfolio, including mission-critical software used in engineering, demand planning, sourcing, manufacturing, human resources and finance. As a result, 3M expects to derive more business value from its legacy applications and boost its competitive advantage by optimizing the costs associated with its applications portfolio.

"Our mission-critical applications are key to achieving 3M's strategic objectives of increasing production capacity, expanding global capabilities and containing costs – all vital to our business success," said Janel Haider, director of Applications COE, 3M. "With HP applying its proven capabilities as our applications services partner, we will have the ability to more efficiently and cost-effectively scale production up and down based on dynamic global market demands."

A research and development leader, 3M will benefit from the best practices and processes HP uses in its Enterprise Application Solutions for Oracle, applications development and management services. These services enable companies to improve decision making and enhance service-level predictability. Additionally, HP's applications testing and quality assurance services can help 3M avoid defects, reduce rework and lower the cost of delivering high-quality applications.

Day-to-day operational support from HP Best Shore global delivery centers will provide consistent, flexible and scalable service delivery based on standardized processes to more cost-effectively support the 3M business.

"Technology solutions help global manufacturers deliver products to consumers around the world as quickly and cost-effectively as possible," said Darl Davidson, vice president, U.S. Manufacturing Industry Group, HP Enterprise Services. "HP's proven applications and manufacturing industry expertise will help 3M adapt to changing business needs and invest in innovation for future growth."

HP currently provides products and services for 3M in support of its infrastructure, printing, personal computers, data center hardware and software.