Metso celebrates its 150th anniversary

In 2018, Metso celebrates its 150th anniversary. The story of Metso started in 1868 as a local ironworks and is linked to the development of urban environments and the modern way of life.

Metso evolved through a series of mergers, acquisitions and divestments. With operations in more than 50 countries and over 12,000 dedicated professionals, Metso is truly a global industrial company providing the world’s mining, aggregates, recycling and process industries with innovative solutions for the sustainable processing and flow of natural resources.

During its 150 years, Metso has been in many businesses — ranging from steam engines, locomotives, car manufacturing, forest machines and pulp and paper machines to valves, metal and waste recycling equipment and solutions for rock and mineral crushing and screening — to name but a few.

One core area of expertise, today, is aggregates and minerals processing: key ingredients for the construction and manufacture of the infrastructure, housing and consumables needed for growing populations and urban areas. The first innovations that kicked off mechanical crushing and screening processes in mines and quarries were introduced in the 1800s. Bruno Nordberg, a Finnish migrant who settled in Michigan in the U.S., produced some of the first crushing equipment for mines. In 1928, Nordberg acquired the Symons cone crusher technology — an innovation that revolutionized crushing practices in the mine and quarry sectors. Bergeaud & Bruno was established in France in 1895 to manufacture crushing equipment and in Tampere, Finland, Lokomo produced its first jaw crushers at the beginning of the 1920s. These industry pioneers are all key components of Metso’s DNA.

The amalgamation of Svedala Industri Ab into Metso in 2001 and the introduction of solutions like primary gyratory crushers, grinding mills and vertical shaft impactors were elemental in the creation of a full-scope offering for crushing and screening. Thanks to a strong installed base and close cooperation with customers, they have been able to continuously develop services, equipment and systems to best meet the needs of their customers. Innovations such as Life Cycle Services, energy-efficient HRC® high-pressure grinding technology, MegalinerTM mill linings, the MXTM Multi-Action cone crusher and Lokotrack® Urban(TM) jaw crushing plants have quickly become household names around the world. Digitalization, sustainability and energy-efficiency are some of the focus areas in current R&D projects. The Metso Metrics concept, which comprises of a cloud-based, remote monitoring and data visualization service for mobile crushing plants, will soon be introduced to mining and recycling processes, too.

Metso is probably the only company in the world that can say that it has been providing equipment and services for the recycling business for 100 years. With the importance of the circular economy increasing, recycling is more important than ever. Metso is in a good position to provide the necessary equipment and services to handle virtually any type of waste or scrap metal. Metso’s metal recycling offering rests on a strong platform built on the LindemannTM, Texas ShredderTM and N-SeriesTM technology covering a wide range of efficient solutions for the fragmentation, compaction and separation of different types of metal scrap. They are also a leading supplier of solid waste recycling equipment, thanks to the acquisition of M&J Industries in Denmark in 2010.

In flow control, our solutions are built on innovative Neles® and Jamesbury® valve solutions. Neles Oy was established by Antti Nelimarkka and Eino Santasalo in 1956. The first Neles valves were originally designed for the needs of the pulp and paper industry. Soft-sealed Jamesbury valves, Mapag® valves (now part of the Neles product portfolio), valve controllers and globe valves were later added to the portfolio to complement the offering. Today, various process industries — often located close to urban areas and including, for example, pulp and paper, chemicals, energy, gas processing and LNG, industrial gas, and refining — rely on their flow control products and services to run their processes safely and reliably.