Pentti Pietilä, creator of the Lokotrack® name: “The crusher that surprised everyone by becoming a global product name”

In 1985, the Lokomo workshop was full of action. That spring, the first order for a track-mounted unit arrived from Telamurska Oy in Pori. A completely new, mobile crusher had to be rapidly designed—replacing traditional wheels with the undercarriage of a used excavator.

“When we were brainstorming a name for this new track-mounted innovation, our goal was to create something fresh that would reflect the heritage of the company, the functionality of the equipment, and resonate globally. Still, we never imagined that Lokotrack^® would so quickly become a globally recognized name in track-mounted crushing,” recalls Pentti Pietilä, Master of Science in Engineering, who held various leadership roles at Lokomo over a career spanning more than 30 years. He is widely regarded as the creator and father of the Lokotrack^® product name.

A product and a name that gained global recognition

When Pietilä took over leadership of the Tampere factories, the strategic direction was clear:

“First, we wanted to get our own house in order. Only after that did we turn our focus to the Scandinavian markets, then to Europe, and eventually to the entire world.”

In Norway—a country known for its hard rock—Lokotrack quickly established a strong position. A larger, international product launch followed just a year after the name was created, in 1986, at the world’s largest construction machinery trade fair in Munich. By then, Lokotrack had already become Lokomo’s flagship product.

“Everywhere in the world, people understood the benefits of Lokotrack contracting. With a crusher that could be easily transported on a trailer, even small-scale projects could be executed profitably. End customers didn’t have to tie up capital in massive stockpiles of crushed material—instead, contractors were called in only when the material was running low,” Pietilä emphasizes.

Competitors adopted the Lokotrack® name

The Lokotrack® product name quickly became so influential that even competitors began using the name as a generic term for track-mounted crushers:

“We had to chuckle a bit when Swedish company Svedala announced they had completed their own Lokotrack models,” recalls Pentti Pietilä.

Soon, the term Lokotrack crushing technology became widely used. In China, the respected product name was freely applied to local products. In Spanish-speaking regions, the name was adapted to Locotrack.

Pietilä estimates that over the past 40 years, the Lokotrack® name has reached a level of recognition comparable to iconic brands like Caterpillar in earthmoving equipment and Bobcat in compact loaders.

Today, the Lokotrack® name is a registered trademark of Metso in its key markets.

A core part of Metso’s crushing business

How does Pietilä view the significance of the Lokotrack product family after 40 years within the Metso Group?

“Its significance is central. The Lokotrack range represents the flagship of Metso’s current rock crushing business. Metso would not be the same company today without this innovation,” Pietilä concludes.