Valmet has appointed Max Luedtke as executive vice president of its Pulp, Energy and Circularity business area, bringing more than two decades of international experience in industrial automation, electrification and digitalisation to the role.
Luedtke will join Valmet’s executive leadership team on 1 September 2026, based in Vantaa, Finland. He moves from ABB, where he was most recently Business Line Manager for Mining & Mineral Processing.
His previous ABB roles included global product group, global segment and local business unit leadership positions. His experience spans process industries and business transformation, areas increasingly central to the pulp and energy sectors as operators seek greater automation and efficiency.
Valmet CEO Thomas Hinnerskov said Luedtke brings “vast international leadership experience, a strong track record in business growth and transformation”, alongside expertise in automation, electrification and digital technologies.
The appointment comes as industrial customers face growing pressure to improve productivity while reducing energy use and emissions. Valmet’s Pulp, Energy and Circularity business covers technologies and services for pulp and energy production, as well as solutions linked to resource efficiency and circularity.
Luedtke’s background at ABB gives him experience across several of the technologies being deployed to address those challenges, including industrial digitalisation and electrification.
He succeeds Sami Riekkola, who will remain with Valmet to support the transition until the end of October.
The change also highlights the increasing overlap between traditional process engineering and the digital and electrical technologies being used to modernise industrial plants. For equipment suppliers, combining these capabilities is becoming an important part of helping customers manage energy costs, improve plant performance and reduce environmental impact.
For Valmet, the appointment places an executive with a broad industrial technology background at the head of a business area spanning both established pulp technologies and the evolving energy and circularity markets.
