3M Co. plans to cut 6,000 jobs in the manufacturer's latest move to adjust to slumping demand in several key markets.

The reductions, part of a wider restructuring of the manufacturer, are expected to narrow annual costs by as much as US$900 million, 3M said in a statement reporting first-quarter earnings on Tuesday. 

These actions “will reduce costs at the corporate center, further simplify and strengthen our supply chain structure, and streamline our go-to-market business models, which will improve margins and cash flow,” Chief Executive Officer Mike Roman said in the statement.

The stock rose 1.5 per cent at 7:05 a.m. in early trading in New York. Shares of the St. Paul, Minnesota-based manufacturing giant had declined 12 per cent this year, the worst performance in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The results highlight how the maker of Post-it notes, respirators and smartphone display materials is struggling to shake off weak demand for consumer goods, electronics and more of its roughly 60,000 products. Sales of virus-filtering respirators coming off pandemic-fueled highs and China's choppy economic reopening have also weighed on 3M's results.

The conglomerate's operational struggles have added to investor fears over what could be billions of dollars in potential liabilities stemming from allegedly faulty earplugs supplied to U.S. combat troops and contamination from so-called forever chemicals, which 3M plans to stop producing by the end of 2025.

The company also announced management changes. The biggest being Michael Vale, a 30-year 3M veteran, being appointed to chief business and country officer, a new role on the firm's operating committee. He will report to Roman and oversee three of the firm's four units.

Adjusted earnings last quarter were US$1.97 a share compared to analyst estimates of US$1.58. Organic sales fell 4.9 per cent, less than the 6.9 per cent decline expected by Wall Street, the largest drop since the second quarter of 2020 when the pandemic ground much of the global economy to a halt. 

3M earlier this year announced plans to cut 2,500 manufacturing jobs to respond to the soft demand environment, the latest in a series of restructuring moves announced since Roman was named CEO in 2018.

The company reiterated its annual forecast for organic sales to decline as much as three per cent and adjusted earnings to be as much as US$9 a share.

The restructuring actions announced this year will result in pretax charges of as much as US$900 million, the company said.