HIGH PROFILE
Building on a mineral processing R&D culture
Dan Gleeson recently met with Metso’s new CEO, Pekka
Vauramo, and found out his initial impressions of the
mineral processing giant, three months after he joined
from Finnair
ekka Vauramo might have only been away
from the mining industry for just over a
decade, but the new Metso CEO is acutely
aware that the digitalisation and automation
trend he saw the beginnings of during his time at
Sandvik now plays a major role in planning the
mines of the future.
Fortunately for Vauramo, a mining engineer by
profession, he has come into this executive role at
a very good time – Metso’s recent October-
December quarter results showed an operating
profit of €93 million ($105 million), or 10.4% of
sales, and a 38% rise in orders received (in
constant currencies) on the back of strong mining
equipment demand.
IM spoke with Vauramo just after the financial
P
results were published.
IM: As a group, what are the core commodities
Metso focuses on?
PV: From a crushing viewpoint, it really doesn’t
matter if it is iron ore, gold, copper, or nickel.
Many of our customers are investing in copper
right now – electric cars and battery metals are
driving this. There are also ongoing investments
in iron ore.
IM: What were your goals for Metso when you
were appointed to the CEO role last year?
PV: The overall objective for Metso should be to
grow the business. Metso has been standing still
on its feet for quite some time. We have been
profitable over the years and the focus has been
on delivering black numbers even in difficult days;
there is always value in this.
But, when looking at long-term R&D, which
really lays the groundwork for organic growth, we
have to increase our investments.
Metso reorganised itself during Nico’s (Delvaux,
former CEO) time a year ago. The current
organisation is, therefore, fairly young and, in the
short term, we need to continue making sure we
know what our responsibilities are within Metso
and ensure we don’t lose sight of our customers.
Several of our businesses have common
customers and we need to be able to deliver one
Metso experience.
My approach coming into the role was to
validate where we are with the current way of
working. My conclusion is that right now, no
86 International Mining | APRIL 2019
bigger changes are needed. We will, obviously,
finetune as we go. Also, when we look at the
latest results, we have no reason to change!
IM: Speaking of change, how would you say the
mining equipment market has evolved since you
were last at Sandvik?*
PV: Technology plays a certain role – the industry
talks more about automation and we do see more
automation. I was involved very early on with
automation in the Sandvik days, introducing the
automated underground loaders, and can still
remember when we carried out the first trials. It is
becoming, maybe, not the norm yet, but every
new mine has the option to automate.
Then, of course, with the automation
capabilities, the question is: where are the people
operating or overseeing these machines? Do they
have to be on the mine site, or can some of them
be elsewhere? Next, it is about how much data
can be obtained from the equipment and what
value can be gained from the data.
Also, consolidation has happened in the
business. Some of the mining companies are no
longer around and bigger ones have got bigger.
This junior activity in mining has been an
interesting and exciting part of the business – it is
still there, perhaps not to the same extent, but
there are also some new names.
We see also China investing in Africa on a
bigger scale. They had their first investments in
Zambia when I was with Sandvik and now it owns
many more mines there. Chinese companies are
also in South America; it has become a much
more international field.
IM: I have seen a few interviews talking about
Metso’s R&D spend and how the 1% of turnover
investment figure is inadequate. What do you see
as an adequate % of turnover to invest? How
quickly can Metso reach this level of investment?
PV: I think Metso needs to double that. But this
takes some time; it is not just about money, it is
about the capability and the R&D culture within
the company. We have that culture, but we need
to expand it. We are ramping it up – we have
added more than €10 million ($11.3 million) in
R&D last year and are planning to add another ¤10
million this year.
Also, besides the traditional R&D, we will
continue to invest in digitalisation. We currently
put more than €10 million into that and I’m quite
sure we need to put more money into in it, too.
Currently R&D and digitalisation are in slightly
different ‘boxes’, but as long as they are
delivering something that helps customers to do
better business, then it is all considered product
development.
IM: Do you think mining companies are fully
realising the potential value these digital
solutions can have within their operations?
PV: Every company is doing something by itself,
but where I see the industry is partially holding
back is that some of the customers think this data
is something they own – and rightly so.
However, I think companies like Metso could,
let’s say, put some algorithms on top of the data
and add value by comparing data from other
places and share the relevant results with those
participating without telling the secrets of others.
If I look at what other manufacturers have done
over the years, it is evident that the industry is
moving in this direction. From the end users’
viewpoint, it can be somewhat complicated
because companies make different choices on
technology and all these technologies need to be
interfaced somehow into similar formats.
Currently, this might be an issue as there are not
really strong enough standards in the industry –
yet that would help people streamline things and
concentrate on the data.
IM: Will Metso’s future focus be on organic growth
from R&D, as opposed to M&A activity?
Pekka Vauramo
PV: There is value in both strategies, but the R&D