Skip to main content

Metso’s 150th anniversary

Crushing equipment specialist Metso is now celebrating its 150th anniversary. The firm started in business in 1868 as a local ironworks and the firm has evolved through a series of mergers, acquisitions and divestments. It now has operations in more than 50 countries and a workforce of over 12,000. Metso is 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
September 17, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Crushing equipment specialist 6934 Metso is now celebrating its 150th anniversary. The firm started in business in 1868 as a local ironworks and the firm has evolved through a series of mergers, acquisitions and divestments. It now has operations in more than 50 countries and a workforce of over 12,000. Metso is 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.  One of its core areas of expertise today is aggregates and minerals processing: key ingredients for the construction and manufacture of infrastructure.

The first innovations that kicked off mechanical crushing and screening processes in the mines and quarries were introduced in the 1800s. Bruno Nordberg, a Finnish migrant who settled in Michigan in the US, produced some of the first crushing equipment for mines. In 1928, Nordberg acquired the Symons cone crusher technology, an innovation that revolutionised crushing practices in mines and quarries. 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 our DNA.

The amalgamation of Svedala Industri into Metso in 2001, and the introduction of solutions like primary gyratory crushers, grinding mills and vertical shaft impactors was elemental in the creation of its crushing and screening business.

As part of the celebration the firm is organising an exhibition of photographs showing its history.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Higher productivity, lower cost asphalt plants
    February 14, 2012
    Manufacturers are producing innovative asphalt equipment, and operators are benefiting from this as Patrick Smithreports. Asphalt plant manufacturers and operators are understandably placing great emphasis on higher productivity but with lower costs. At the same time they are aware of environmental issues and the ever-increasing use of recycled material in mixes.
  • Metso expands range of screening solutions
    September 14, 2015
    Metso is expanding its range of screening options for customers. The firm’s COMPACT Screen range includes models that have been incorporated with its mobile crushing and screening plants. But these are also now available for single unit sales and use in stationary plants. These screens, including the CVB-M inclined screen with circular motion and the FS horizontal screen with elliptical motion, are well proven on Lokotrack mobile plants and Nordberg NW Series portable plants. In addition to the CVB-M
  • Efficient aggregate production technology
    July 13, 2020
    Efficient aggregate production technology is now coming to market, offering lower cost/tonne production
  • Hillhead-line acts for 2014 show
    July 2, 2014
    The 2014 edition of Hillhead, the three-day biennial flagship show for the quarrying, recycling and heavy construction industries, is set to welcome thousands of visitors, keen to see the latest leading equipment models alongside innovative machine and site management control technology. Guy Woodford reports on what a variety of major companies will be showcasing during this month’s show at Lafarge Tarmac’s Hillhead Quarry near Buxton in Derbyshire With around 450 UK and international suppliers of plant, eq