The tough economy is causing 3M corporation to cut back it's workforce and restructure it's operations.

But after bracing for the local impact... KSFY has learned that the 3M plant in Brookings will actually benefit from the change.

Action News Reporter Kent Erdahl explains how it will happen.

3M has announced that it will cut 23 hundred jobs by the end of the year, and today I spoke with company officials who told me that includes closing a manufacturing plant here in Muncie, Indiana... but that's good for Brookings because the company plans to move those operations up here... and they tell me more jobs could follow. 

"This will be great." 3M has had a big impact on Brookings for many years, just ask former employee Donna Tolk. "I think they've helped out a lot of people. I don't have any regrets working there. I was there for 21 and a half years."

3M currently employs roughly 700 people in Brookings... company officials say they don't know what the consolidation will do to that number... but they say job additions are likely.

3M announced the move in hopes of improving it's efficiency, after seeing revenue drop off late this year.

Though Donna left 3M to start her own business with her husband... she says the company's impact on Brookings is still clear, and she's glad the city is on the good end of the consolidation. "I think it's great because with the economy the way it is, everybody is looking for jobs and they need a good place to work."

The 3M plant in Brookings is best known for making supplies for hospitals, like surgical drapes and even tape used for casts... but after the consolidation, the plant will begin making more products used for food safety.