As Command strips turned into a product empire, though, they also became captive to 3M’s unique form of industrial sprawl. Historically the company has organized its factories by material science and manufacturing processes, rather than by product—think chemicals in one facility, adhesives in another and packaging somewhere else, for example, regardless of their ultimate end use. This way, the thinking went, with each innovation, 3M could wring more value from existing machinery and underlying technologies. But every new product and geographic market also brought with it new costs and complexities, resulting in a labyrinthine factory network. This approach meant that Command strip production took place at multiple sites, sometimes hundreds of miles apart. Add in more steps for distribution, and the journey to Walmart shelves of what is, at base, just a particularly good sticky plastic hook looks pretty convoluted.