On 1 November 2024, Sami Takaluoma replaced Pekka Vauramo as President and CEO of Finnish metals, minerals and aggregates processing giant Metso. A vastly experienced industry executive with an impressive track record in various other senior positions within Metso, Takaluoma talks to Guy Woodford about his eagerness to build on the company’s market-leading position and sustainability goals while continuing to innovate with its plants and technologies.
Many have spoken of how the first 100 days can define a government. After taking up the leadership role of President and CEO of Metso, Sami Takaluoma was keen to show that the sentiment was just as valid in the aggregates and mining products and services world.
“We all knew that Pekka [Vauramo] was finishing at the end of 2024, and I wanted people to focus on their work and get energised about the future. With that in mind, I established our new leadership team on my second day as President and CEO. I also spent a lot of time in November and December [2024] with our investor community so they could meet me and understand that the company would be in good hands. After the Christmas break, we started a strategic review of our Aggregates and Minerals (Mining) business segments and laid out what the next three to five years for Metso will look like. That work will continue until the summer, and then there will be a Capital Market Day in early October where we will explain the full strategy. As I come from inside the company, I know where to look and what questions to ask to gain some improvements.”
Focusing on the current global demand for Metso’s products and services, Takaluoma says: “2024 was a low capital investment year in the global aggregates and minerals industries. We know that the aggregates market is cyclical and is driven by site operators’ trust that there will be demand in the future. The drivers in this market are also more regional. Europe has its [growth] drivers, as does the U.S, China, South America, Africa, etc.
“Whatever macro-level indicators you look at, there is still a need to do a great deal worldwide on infrastructure, like building and maintaining roads. I think construction will come back. There are still a lot of developing countries that need aggregates to realise their growth ambitions. There are many road work project opportunities, and I want to ensure we are fully equipped to go after them. I am looking at how processes flow when we are serving customers. For instance, are we getting all the benefits from our acquired data to best support them?”
Takaluoma became Metso President & CEO after leading the company’s Services business area since 2021. He has been a member of Metso’s Leadership Team since 2017. Under his leadership, Metso’s Services business grew and added significant value, partly through Metso’s July 2020 merger with Outotec, a Finnish-headquartered global provider of process technologies and services for the world’s metals and mining, industrial water treatment, and chemical industries. After nearly three years of trading as Metso Outotec, Metso Corporation (Metso) was born on 4 May 2023, reflecting the successful integration of Metso and Outotec into a single, strong company.
Metso is a global business staffed by more than 17,000 employees of more than 100 nationalities. Aggregates-related business represents 25% of its annual revenues, with Mining-related trading accounting for 75%. Combined (Aggregates & Mining) equipment and solutions sales represented 42% of total sales, with 58% being (Aggregates & Mining) Services sales.
In 2024, Metso achieved total business sales valued at €4.9 billion, including €1.3 billion Metso Plus sales. The latter sustainability-focused sales included, among others, optimised spare and wear parts for more efficient processes, repairs and upgrades extending the lifetime of customer assets for reduced waste, Metso Truck Body units for offering more payload and less fuel burn per hauled tonne, and energy-efficient modular in-pit crush and convey solutions. Geographically, 24% of (Mining & Aggregates segment) sales were in Asia Pacific, 22% were in North and Central America, 21% were in South America, 18% were in Europe, and 15% were in Africa, the Middle East and India.
“Metso benefits from being a truly global business – as two slowing market regions are balanced by two or three others seeing far stronger demand for aggregates and minerals products and services,” explains Takaluoma.
Metso’s new CEO and President says the ‘green’ evolution of the Chinese quarrying industry has created attractive new business opportunities in the world’s biggest aggregates market. Fueled by the Chinese government’s focus on carbon reduction and key industries’ sustainability, China’s extraction sites are down from 56,000 a decade ago to around 13,000. While this has seen production drop from nearly 20 billion tonnes in 2020 to around 16.8 billion last year, a sizeable number of the remaining extraction sites – dubbed ‘Super Quarries – produce around 100 million tonnes of aggregates annually.
“The ‘Super Quarries’ in China want the best production plants and technologies. Some of these producers hadn’t been in quarrying before. They have said they need the best equipment to produce the best final aggregate products. When working your site 24/7, 365 days a year, having the best and most reliable plants and machines makes sense. They also appreciate our comprehensive after-market services and solutions offered through Metso Life Cycle Services. Some Chinese quarries can lack some of the technical competencies required to get the best out of their operations, and we can help supply that. We have benefited from the Super Quarries being, in effect, ‘Mini Mines’. We could take the service support we offer to our mining customers and offer something similar to our aggregates customers. We have also invested in our service workshops and spare parts warehousing in China, and recently, we announced an agreement to acquire the screening solutions business and operations of Selm (Beijing) Technology Company. It is renowned for its heavy-duty industrial screens and will further enhance our offering to Chinese mining and aggregates customers. China will be a very important market for us in the future.”
Metso’s comprehensive global services expertise includes 3,700 field service professionals and technical support experts, 140 service locations and repair centres, three performance centres, six own foundries and selected partner foundries, seven rubber and Poly-Met part factories, five aggregates equipment factories for the Metso brand and five for other brands.
Metso can also quote impressive numbers regarding its innovation and R&D capacity. The company invested €103 million in R&D in 2024, has 40 locations globally with R&D, testing, or laboratory capabilities, and has secured 7,900 patents. Furthermore, 24 Metso Plus-inclusive products were launched last year (now totalling over 100). Metso Plus helps Metso customers cut their CO2 emissions and achieve their other sustainability priorities, such as water and energy efficiencies, by operating Metso’s Metso Plus-inclusive products. In addition to direct emissions reductions, Metso Plus products can decrease the carbon emitted in manufacturing and delivering products and offer potential for recycling materials.
In recent years, Metso has significantly invested in its Aggregates segment offer by acquiring McCloskey International, McCloskey Environmental, MWS Equipment, Lippmann, Jonsson, Tesab Engineering, Screen Machine Industries, Diamond Z, SR Heavy, and Tedd Engineering.
“These brands are performing well within the Metso family, and each has a business development plan. We are not the kind of company that acquires another company and says, ‘Right, over to you to get on with it,” says Takaluoma.
A consistent annual global aggregates demand of around 45 billion tonnes creates many commercial opportunities for Metso and its Aggregates segment brands.
“The election of Donald Trump as U.S. president will likely see the return of investments in Federal and State infrastructure. This means that 2025 should be a year of growth for us in America,” says Takaluoma. “ I would love to say the same about Europe; much of it depends on the situation in Ukraine. If a firm enough resolution and peace are achieved, it would lead to renewed infrastructure investment across Europe, with aggregate producers feeling confident about investing in new plants and services.”
South America is another big full business portfolio growth region for Metso. “It’s a hot spot for greenfield mining development, and there’s a lot of infrastructure work needed to build roads and rail links for these mines – which creates great need for aggregates. Like in China, we have developed our services network and improved our wear parts distribution capabilities to meet growing customer needs.”
In addition to being a big hit among Chinese Super Quarry operators, Metso’s Life Cycle Services (LCS) packages are becoming increasingly sought after in other big regional aggregates and mining markets. In 2024, Metso secured over 100 new LCS contracts with global and regional mining companies, large quarries and aggregate contractors. The average duration of a contract is three years but can range from 12 months to multiple years of partnership. The orders are booked on a phased basis, depending on the length and type of the agreement.
LCS encompass Metso’s aftermarket portfolio, from spares and wears to advanced maintenance, remote monitoring, and other expert services. The company assists customers in enhancing safety and environmental standards, boosting reliability and production for greater resource efficiency, and optimising the overall cost of ownership. Metso has been offering innovative Life Cycle Services for over 15 years.
Takaluoma notes that Metso Aggregates’ business segment customers now account for around a third of the over 550 active Metso LCS contracts. “Through Metso LCS, we are increasing equipment lifetime by taking good care of it. It is good for sustainability, as the customer does not need to replace their equipment earlier than before, and it is good economically as the customer gets more productivity and efficiency from well-maintained equipment.
“We are a [Aggregates crushing and screening plant] market leader – in our plants, our wear parts and the services and support we offer our customers. Our Metso Plus offering supports this, helping customers get extraction permits through dust and noise suppression and lower emissions—our new Lokotrack EC diesel-electric [plant] range is an example of this kind of equipment and wider operating solution.”
The first two products of Metso’s new Lokotrack EC Series crushers and screens were launched in the spring of 2024. The Lokotrack LT400J is a 68-tonne mobile jaw crusher ideal for the primary crushing of hard rock and recycled aggregates. The Lokotrack LT350C is a 50-tonne mobile cone crusher for secondary and tertiary crushing. The LT350C has the new Nordberg HP350e cone crusher to reach high capacity, while the LT400J counts on the proven Nordberg C120 jaw crusher. Both units can be seamlessly combined with the Lokotrack mobile screens to produce high-quality aggregates.
The Lokotrack EC range has been developed using new modular architecture, which reduces the number of components and provides scalable solutions that can be adapted for different applications and capacities. The full range will be introduced to the market over the next few years.
In 2025, Metso is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Lokotrack mobile crushers at various industry exhibitions and company events worldwide. At bauma Munich (7-13 April 2025), the world’s biggest quarrying, mining, construction and recycling machinery exhibition, Metso will also showcase its Nordberg HP450e cone crusher, designed to improve performance and efficiency in tough environments. Another successful product is the HRC8 crusher, which transforms quarry waste streams into valuable, sellable materials such as manufactured sand.
“There is great demand for the first Lokotrack EC Series crushers,” says Takaluoma. “Our factories have a good amount of them in production. The feedback has been really good. These plants are hitting the sweet spot in helping our quarry operator customers secure their environmental permits. The HP450e is perfect for European aggregates processing customers, especially when fines are re-crushed with the HRC8. Both are great innovations by Metso, and you can see the energy efficiency and productivity gains they offer.”
Before bauma 2025, at the AGG-1 exhibition in St Louis, Missouri, USA (25-27 March), Metso will display its Nordberg HP600e cone crusher and promote two larger plants from the same series, the HP800e and HP900e.
“The Nordberg HP cone crushers are the crushers for the U.S. market. The ‘e’ models ensure less downtime and servicing requirements while offering the best cone crusher productivity worldwide,” says Takaluoma. “I believe strongly that all the HPe crushers will be a success in America. They are great for large quarries and meet a need for mobile crushers. Our excellent distributor partners in the U.S. are part of why we are strong there. It is a very important market for Metso.”
Takaluoma sees the development of Metso’s screening plant and screening media offer as just as important as the company’s crusher plant and linked technology advances. “I think we had a scattered screening plant portfolio in the past. Now, we have a very clear screening plant offer for mining and aggregates customers. That side of our business is in very good shape. We offer polyurethane and wire mesh screening media depending on the customer’s application. We will continuously develop our screening offer regarding what we are doing and potentially through further mergers and acquisitions like the recent one we announced in China.”
Takaluoma says Metso has seen a notable increase in its crusher remanufacturing and upgrade retrofitting business. “Around four years ago, we started considering extending our offer in this area. We’ve always offered a repair service, but then we did some R&D and engineering work to see how that might work. There is definitely a market for extending the life of each piece of equipment. An upgrade retrofit can reduce crusher energy usage or increase production capacity. It’s great news for the customer at a fraction of the cost of purchasing a new crusher. An upgrade can also include installing enhanced digital services, ensuring more production optimisation. With our digital services, our experts can offer better advice and support when we can remotely see what is happening with a customer’s production. The remanufacturing or upgrade retrofitting option best suits longtime quarry operators running fixed sites. It also fits well with our Metso Plus philosophy.”
Metso is investing €150 million in a modern technology centre in Tampere, Finland. The company will gradually move its operations in Hatanpää, Tampere, to a new Lokomotion technology centre built in Tampere’s Lahdesjärvi district. In the future, at the new Lahdesjärvi facility, Metso will design, test, and manufacture technologies, equipment, and components for the production of aggregates and sand.
Acquired by Metso in 2021, the Lokomotion Technology Centre site covers 23 hectares. It will host over 900 Metso employees. The initial total building area of the centre is about 66,000m², of which the first phase will be about 34,000m². Construction began in July 2024 and will include assembly and testing facilities for manufacturing mobile crushers and storage facilities for components and materials used in aggregate equipment. Investment in 2024 is estimated at around €30 million. Production of the Lokotrack track-mounted crushing plants is scheduled to start in Lahdesjärvi during the third quarter of 2027.
According to the plan, the crusher factory, research centre, maintenance workshop, and office facilities will move from Hatanpää to Lahdesjärvi later. The new technology centre is expected to be fully completed by the mid-2030s.
Understandably, Takaluoma is excited about the new growth possibilities enabled by Metso’s significant capital investment. “R&D is at the core of Metso. We significantly invest in it, and we will continue to do so in my time, perhaps investing even more. We want state-of-the-art facilities for our R&D teams. We must keep innovating and bringing new technologies to the market to improve our industries. This will lead to more and more energy-efficient production and less waste.”
Producing new premium crushing and screening plants that can recycle concrete and building debris into new sellable aggregate products is of great interest to Takaluoma and Metso. “This area of our business led to the acquisition of Diamond Z, a U.S. company specialising in equipment that crushes debris from natural disasters, like hurricanes, and turns it into reusable building products. Sustainability is not just a buzzword. We need to recycle more, and what better way to do that than to recycle a widely used material like concrete?”
Takaluoma sees his new leadership role as building on his longtime work as part of Metso’s Leadership team. “There was not a need for a full transformation of the company. We will accelerate certain things and identify areas where we can do even better. The foundation is very strong. My leadership style is about removing obstacles from my executive team’s way. I want to see just how good a business can be. I like a very open team discussion that leads to the execution of our goals.”
What will he see as a well-done job as Metso President and CEO? “A permanently engaged workforce that sees Metso as a great place to work and a constantly innovating company that is extremely relevant to the mining and aggregate industries it serves.”
