The purchase obligation amounts do not represent the entire anticipated purchases in the future, but represent only those items for which the Company is contractually obligated. The majority of 3M’s products and services are purchased as needed, with no unconditional commitment. For this reason, these amounts will not provide a reliable indicator of the Company’s expected future cash outflows on a stand-alone basis.

 

Other obligations, included in the preceding table within the caption entitled “Unconditional purchase obligations and other,” include the current portion of the liability for uncertain tax positions under ASC 740. The Company is not able to reasonably estimate the timing of the long-term payments or the amount by which the liability will increase or decrease over time; therefore, the long-term portion of the net tax liability of $352 million is excluded from the preceding table. Refer to Note 8 for further details.



As discussed in Note 11, the Company does not have a required minimum pension contribution obligation for its U.S. plans in 2011 and Company contributions to its U.S. and international pension plans are expected to be largely discretionary in 2011 and future years; therefore, amounts related to these plans are not included in the preceding table.

 

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

 

The Company enters into contractual derivative arrangements in the ordinary course of business to manage foreign currency exposure, interest rate risks and commodity price risks. A financial risk management committee, composed of senior management, provides oversight for risk management and derivative activities. This committee determines the Company’s financial risk policies and objectives, and provides guidelines for derivative instrument utilization. This committee also establishes procedures for control and valuation, risk analysis, counterparty credit approval, and ongoing monitoring and reporting.

 

The Company enters into foreign exchange forward contracts, options and swaps to hedge against the effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash flows denominated in foreign currencies and certain intercompany financing transactions. The Company manages interest rate risks using a mix of fixed and floating rate debt. To help manage borrowing costs, the Company may enter into interest rate swaps. Under these arrangements, the Company agrees to exchange, at specified intervals, the difference between fixed and floating interest amounts calculated by reference to an agreed-upon notional principal amount. The Company manages commodity price risks through negotiated supply contracts, price protection agreements and forward physical contracts.

 

A Monte Carlo simulation technique was used to test the Company’s exposure to changes in currency and interest rates and assess the risk of loss or benefit in after-tax earnings of financial instruments, derivatives and underlying exposures outstanding at December 31, 2010. The model (third-party bank dataset) used a 95 percent confidence level over a 12-month time horizon. The model used analyzed 18 currencies, interest rates related to three currencies, and five commodities, but does not purport to