US-based 3M Co today broke the ground for its seventh Chinese production base in Shanghai with a total investment of 300 million yuan (US$40 million).

The local production line will begin to produce medical equipment as well as supplies and accessories by the third quarter of next year.

3M, the maker of products from Post-It Notes to electronic road signs, established its first China branch in 1984, which was the first foreign-invested enterprise established in China outside the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.

The company has invested more than US$300 million in the country.