By Nina Trentmann and Austen Hufford

Industrial conglomerate 3M Co. hired an external candidate for its top finance job as the manufacturer looks to offset the business impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

St. Paul, Minn.-based 3M -- which makes N95 face masks, Post-it Notes and other products -- named Monish Patolawala to become its next chief financial officer, effective July 1.

Mr. Patolawala is currently CFO of General Electric Co.'s health-care unit. He will succeed Nicholas Gangestad, who plans to retire after six years as 3M's finance chief and 35 years with the company, 3M said.

In the wake of the spread of the novel coronavirus, 3M has seen strong demand for products such as masks but suffered declines in other areas, as lockdowns have resulted in lower industrial orders and a drop in health-care spending. With many offices across the U.S. still closed, there is less corporate purchasing of 3M's office supplies. The company has also seen big declines in products that are sold to dentists and car manufacturers.

Mr. Patolawala will have to manage the financial impact of these trends on the company's balance sheet as well as other underlying challenges, analysts said. The company said its April sales declined 11% year-over-year.

3M has been under financial pressure since the beginning of 2019 amid slowing global growth and declining demand in core industries. The company missed or lowered its financial targets several times over the past two years and withdrew its annual guidance at the end of April.

"The company has undertaken two sizable restructurings over the past year while taking actions to aggressively lower costs temporarily in response to [Covid-19] that has negatively pressured a host of 3M businesses," John Inch, a senior analyst at research firm Gordon Haskett Research Advisors, said in a note to clients.

3M is expected to recoup some of the lost revenue in later quarters as lockdown orders and other restrictions are being phased out and consumers return to offices, shopping malls and health-care providers, said Nigel Coe, a managing director at Wolfe Research LLC, a research company.

But a weaker outlook for the U.S. economy also clouds the outlook for 3M, Mr. Coe said. "They cannot decouple themselves from the market," he said.

The company in April said it plans to reduce expenses by up to $400 million in the second quarter, following earlier cost reductions. 3M said it was cutting its capital investments this year to about $1.3 billion, down from as much as $1.8 billion planned previously.

It also faces challenges arising from tariff disputes between the U.S. and other major trading partners, including China, where 3M generates a portion of its revenue. The company came under fire from President Trump earlier this year for not bringing enough face masks into the U.S. The Trump administration and 3M agreed to import masks from the company's China operations, using the Defense Production Act. The company also is boosting its mask production in the U.S. and globally to meet more orders from health-care workers.

Mr. Patolawala is expected to take additional steps to adjust 3M's cost base and improve its working capital position, analysts said. He could also play a role in the integration of Acelity Inc., a wound-care company that 3M bought in 2019.

At GE, Mr. Patolawala was credited with turning around the company's struggling health-care business since he took over the finance department in 2015, said Joshua Aguilar, an equity analyst at investment research firm Morningstar Research Services LLC.

As vice president of operational transformation -- a role Mr. Patolawala held alongside his most recent CFO-position -- he played an important role in the restructuring of GE under Chief Executive Larry Culp, 3M said in its release. Mr. Patolawala, who joined GE in 1994 and qualified as a chartered accountant, declined to comment. 3M declined to make him available for an interview.

Mr. Patolawala also is set to inherit a longstanding legal issue arising from the company's former production of chemicals known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. Those chemicals were once used in Teflon cookware and other products and have been linked to cancer and other health problems.

Even though it is unclear how much 3M will have to spend to resolve the matter, PFAS could be a huge financial liability for the company, said Deane Dray, a managing director at RBC Capital Markets, an investment bank. "A new CFO needs to be prepared for that," he said.

--Colin Kellaher contributed to this article.

Write to Nina Trentmann at Nina.Trentmann@wsj.com and Austen Hufford at austen.hufford@wsj.com