With Mikko Tepponen now in place as the new Chief Digital Officer (CDO), FLSmidth says it will accelerate both the digital transformation of its own business and its portfolio of digital offerings aimed at optimising customer operations in the mining industry. Tepponen arrives with proven experience in driving transformation journeys in other large industries and a track record of employing digital solutions as an enabler for more sustainable and resource-efficient practices. In previous roles, Tepponen has been Vice President, Digital at Wärtsilä and before that, Senior Manager for Digital Services at Outotec.
For Tepponen there is a strong link between digitalisation and sustainability: “Digitalisation and sustainability go hand in hand. When you succeed in digitalising key processes in any large-scale industry, you tend to see clear benefits in areas such as energy consumption, waste reduction and resource use. Without a serious focus on digitalisation, it will be impossible for us at FLSmidth to reach our MissionZero sustainability ambitions.”
Tepponen’s priorities are to accelerate digitalisation projects across FLSmidth and to deliver an expanded portfolio to customers based on direct collaboration and co-creation: “It should be our clear aim to develop new digital solutions in tandem with our customers. We will have a strong focus on co-creating solutions that respond directly to customer needs and to opportunities we identify for miners to increase sustainable productivity. Customer participation will be of primary importance on this journey. I am a strong believer in joint projects as they ensure a solid business focus for innovation and invite customers and third parties to approach us to work collaboratively.”
He adds: “In large-scale businesses, such as mining, digital should be aimed at increasing productivity through optimisation and efficiency. This can be in terms of fuel consumption, raw material use, heat, time, emission reduction, security enhancement and in many other areas. When it comes to these parameters, humans are smart but with the right digitalisation setup they can be even smarter.”
Tepponen’s role also includes responsibility for the entire internal IT setup for FLSmidth employees globally, where his priority is to strengthen and align all processes and IT architectures across the organisation. Mikko Tepponen will work out of the FLSmidth headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.
