Metso business development manager John O’Reilly shares insights into Metso’s plans for the Australian quarrying and aggregates sector.
How was 2025 for Metso?
It was an exciting year for Metso.
We had Anita Waihi come back on board as a sales support specialist, which helped rebuild our team here in Australia with experience. We also had some exciting product launches in the country, one of which was the high-pressure grinding rolls (HPGR) crusher.
We brought in a portable version of that into Brisbane and had it demonstrating at a couple of quarries on different materials. It really showed how it can produce high-quality manufactured sand, and the demonstrations were very successful.
The technical crushing seminars we ran in the second half of the year were another highlight. It allowed us to showcase new products and developments in crushing and digital technology. That was an excellent chance for our customers to engage with our senior experts on matters related to crushing as well.
We also had a lot of training sessions throughout the year across Australia, which were hosted by our process and training engineer Glenn Oldfield.
It was a one-day, entry-level event focused on crushing and screening, and we had at least 300 people attend over 12 sessions. They were free events and not Metso-specific, but we wanted to help increase industry knowledge and expertise.
What was a major trend you noticed in the industry in 2025?
There are always common industry trends, but one thing that stood out was that customers wanted to get more value from their existing machinery and equipment.
That can look like upgrading crushers or improving processes, but the ultimate goal was to unlock more value from their operations.
Given things have dropped off in the southern states and are steady in other states, even when it is improving in Queensland, we’re seeing customers are really thinking outside the box when it comes to optimising their plants.
This has enabled those customers to reach new levels in unlocking value from their plants.
How does Metso play a role in this?
We can help customers in several ways to optimise their plants. We obviously have new machines, but you can also retrofit new parts onto older models, for example, which transform your HP crusher into a HPe crusher without needing to buy a whole new crusher.
Buying parts instead of a new crusher can also help businesses use operational expenditure rather than capital expenditure, which can be harder to get approved.
We also offer many training and optimisation services. We’ll look at your plant and give you some ways to improve it, regardless of whether it’s our equipment.
Our focus is on making the customer more profitable, increasing their product yields, and providing a high level of service.
How is Metso positioned for 2026, and what key developments can we expect?
We’re going to continue growing our team here at Metso Australia. We want to get the right people into the right places to support our customers, authorised service agents and distributors.
This will allow our customers access to the right stock and support to service their crushers. Having the support located in the country is important, and by investing in our team, we can have the right people there with our customers to get them going again.
We want to continue building our stock of equipment and parts. We’ll be relocating Metso’s East Coast store from Sydney to Brisbane in January, and we’ll be expanding inventories for our service agents and distributors.
Metso sees Australia as an important country. All the major quarrying companies work out of here; there’s good business to be had in Australia for those companies. We see Australia as a stable country with a lot of development going on, and it is a safe place to invest your money and get a return on your investment.
We’re here for the long term in Australia. We will be providing more support, more parts, and more training to ensure that the industry thrives.•
For more information, visit metso.com
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