16.04.2026
Team Filtrabit profile: Esa Salminen joins Filtrabit from Sandvik, bringing with him 30 years of sales experience from underground construction, with the last 10 years in mining.
Team Filtrabit profile: Esa Salminen joins Filtrabit from Sandvik, bringing with him 30 years of sales experience from underground construction, with the last 10 years in mining.
As Filtrabit is opening its business to the mining sector, Esa Salminen answered the call to action. He has spent the last 10 years in sales positions in the mining sector, most recently at Sandvik and before that at Normet.
How do you approach sales?
“Personally I believe that it’s a waste of everyone’s time trying to sell a solution that doesn’t have a clear need. You have to be very honest with the client – and yourself, too – about whether the need is really there or not. What makes it challenging is that clients are often hesitant to open up about the problems they’re facing and their true needs. In some cases, they might not even realize true needs because it’s simply how things have always been done.
Just like in coaching, my job is to be a helpful second pair of eyes, helping see through blind spots.”
What do you do outside of work?
“As far as my personal life goes, I’m pretty difficult to put into a box. I’m the lead singer of a death metal band, I do crossfit and coach Olympic weightlifting. I’m also an enthusiastic ice hockey fan.”
Favorite NHL team?
“Dallas Stars.”
What attracted you to Olympic weightlifting?
“In general, I’m very honest and direct, and so is weightlifting. You can’t cheat the bar, and the feedback is immediate.
I love the focus on mechanics and technique. If you’re a centimeter off on a lift, you might as well forget about it. The pursuit of continuous improvement, that is so central in the sport, is also addictive.
On the coaching side, working with athletes has plenty of rewarding moments. With your observation and a gentle nudge, helping someone reach a new level on their performance is amazing. That’s where the parallel with sales is. In finding those win-win situations.”
One must ask – does the death metal singing hurt your vocal chords?
“Hah! At first it did. I’d also get red in the face and was afraid of bursting a vein or something. Once you pick up on the correct technique, it’s surprisingly gentle on the body.”
What convinced you to join Filtrabit?
“What motivated me to join Filtrabit was definitely the desire to be a part of building something important from the ground up. There are so many possibilities for applying this technology in different sectors and processes inside those sectors that it’s practically endless.
Helping an innovation from my home country reach the global market is very rewarding. On top of that, you’re doing something good for the environment and the health of millions of people. It doesn’t get better than that.”
About Filtrabit
Filtrabit is a Finnish manufacturer of industrial-scale dust extraction systems. Filtrabit’s solution effectively extracts microparticles from industrial dust-laden gas streams, which helps reduce air pollutants from industrial sources and accelerate emissions reductions through the reuse of recovered raw materials.
