Primetals appoints new CEO

Satoru Iijima, who will continue to serve as a director of the board and fellow advisor. Yoshiharu Ikeda brings decades of experience in the metals industry to his role, says Primetals, and has a track record of successful leadership in commercial and strategical roles as well as in the machinery business sector.

“Yoshiharu Ikeda has spent decades advancing organizations within the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group, and we are thrilled to welcome him as new CEO of Primetals Technologies,” said Satoru Iijima. “He is an exceptional leader who will support our vision of being the pioneer and global leader in the metals industry.”

Yoshiharu Ikeda started his career at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in the mid-80s, and has held several global positions including manager, global sales for Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery and CEO of Primetals Technologies USA. He is currently CFO at Primetals Technologies.

“The metals industry is in an interesting and at the same time challenging phase. Working with customers in every corner of the globe, our role is to innovate the industry and redefine how sustainable metals are produced. This does not only apply to the upstream area and projects like HYFOR and Smelter – but also the downstream area, and, for example, the electrification of furnaces in rolling mills and processing lines and our ground-breaking Arvedi ESP technology. Additionally, digitalization is an essential part of our innovation efforts. We are innovating within the fields of digital decarbonization, emissions monitoring, robotics, and process optimization – just to mention a few areas,” said Ikeda.

Effective 1 April 2025, Andreas Weinhengst, CFO of Primetals Technologies Austria since 2018, will succeed Yoshiharu Ikeda as CFO. He has worked within the metals industry since the early 90s in different leadership positions in commercial sales, accounting, and controlling, both in Austria and abroad. His job experience includes roles as commercial head M&A of Kvaerner Metals Business at Voest-Alpine Industrieanlagenbau and head of accounting and controlling at Siemens VAI Metals Technologies, the predecessor company of Primetals Technologies.

Also effective with Primetals Technologies’ new financial year is the appointment of Karl Purkarthofer in the newly established role of COO of Primetals Technologies. In this role, he will head several global functions, namely supply chain, turnkey, manufacturing, project management, engineering, quality management, and environmental health and safety.