Daniel Gidlund appointed as CEO of Freemelt

Freemelt – whose groundbreaking solutions create new conditions for rapid growth and development in 3D printing – has appointed Daniel Gidlund as its new CEO. Daniel Gidlund comes, most recently, from his role of Vice President of Sales, Division Parts & Services at Sandvik Mining & Rock Solutions. He replaces the founder Ulric Ljungblad, who, on his own initiative, leaves the position of CEO. Ulric Ljungblad’s new position in the company is as Chief Innovation Officer (CIO). Daniel Gidlund will take up the position on 18 October.

Until now, Daniel Gidlund has held several international senior positions at Sandvik since 2008 – all with a focus on international expansion and business growth. Daniel Gidlund also has notable experience of business and leadership development, including the role as CEO of a startup in the telecom industry and another eight years of business development in telecom.

“Freemelt’s development has been fantastic, and the future untapped potential is great. The board is very satisfied with the job Ulric Ljungblad has done as CEO. Now, when Freemelt is entering into a new phase, with a stronger focus on industrialization, we are in alignment with Ulric Ljungblad that it is appropriate to appoint a new CEO with extensive experience from leadership in advanced industrial operations. Daniel Gidlund is a fantastic candidate for this assignment, and we are very pleased to welcome him as the new CEO of Freemelt,” said Carl Palmstierna, initial investor, and Chairman of the Board of Freemelt. “We are also very pleased that Ulric Ljungblad will continue to work in a central role in technology and innovation as CIO, which will be critical for the future development of our products and services. In addition, we have decided to nominate him as a new board member for election at the next general meeting, which he has accepted.”

The change of CEO is due to Freemelt’s strengthening position in the 3D printing market. In the recent year, Freemelt has doubled the number of employees and rapidly increased the number of sales of Freemelt ONE. There is a continuing need to further expand and implement an agile organizational structure to enable large-scale deliveries of machines and support to international customers in several large business areas on their way into large-scale production, with the help of 3D printing.

“I’m looking forward to lead and continue to develop an organization and the offering of industrial products, services, and software in one of Sweden’s most interesting fast-growing companies. My mission is to build on Freemelt’s successful development with the ambition to position Freemelt as one of the leading global companies in the rapidly growing 3D printing industry,” said Daniel Gidlund, Freemelt’s new CEO. “3D printing in metal is currently in a very expansive phase with a lot of manufacturing companies in the process of transferring production in exciting and large applications from traditional manufacturing methods to 3D printing.”

“When I took over as CEO in 2019, we were ten employees and we had just delivered our first Freemelt ONE system. The journey we made under my leadership, including listing on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market, which has now resulted in continuous good sales and a substantially bigger but still unique and qualified team of thirty-five people. This has been extremely stimulating and something I am proud of,” said Ulric Ljungblad, current CEO of Freemelt. “It is on my initiative that the change takes place, and I am very pleased to hand over to Daniel Gidlund. This will enable us to establish the right circumstances to capture Freemelt’s full potential. My commitment at Freemelt continues with full dedication, and I am very excited to get the opportunity to 100% focus on what I think I am best at – technology development, innovation, and external communication – towards the 3D printing industry.”