In 1949 Karl Leister founded Karl Leister Elektro-Geraetebeau in Solingen, Germany. The Leister FIX W200 hand-held vacuum cleaner was the first product. A few years later, Karl Leister invented the Leister KOMBI, a hot air unit for weldingthermoplastic synthetic materials. He opened the first factory in Solingen. The sales network has been expanded continuously since 1953. In 1963, the first branch was opened in Kägiswil with four employees. The process heat product line encompassing air heaters and blowers was developed a short time later. The existing location was expanded. All business activities were relocated to Switzerland in 1977. In-house motor fabrication was set up in 1979. Leister expanded its production capacities and developed a global sales network. In the 1980s Leister was already active in Europe, Asia and Latin America. After the death of Karl Leister, his wife Christiane Leister took over management of Leister Process Technologies in 1993. The company began expanding into additional business areas in the 1990s. A product line for laser systems was introduced and activities in the fields of gas sensors and micro-optics commenced. The latter were later outsourced to the subsidiary Axetris. A clean room was set up for this in 1999. The headquarters were relocated to Galileo-Strasse in Kägiswil in 2008. In 2011 the company Leister Process Technologies and the Leister companies abroad were integrated into a group structure. Leister AG is the holding company of the new Leister Group. Seamtek LLC, USA, was acquired in 2014 to develop the market for film welding. While Leister only carried automatic welders previous to this, it entered the stationary welding machine segment with the takeover of Seamtek.
Organization and business data
Leister AG has been the holding company of the Leister Group with its headquarters in Kägiswil, Obwalden, Switzerland since 2011. The group includes the following companies:
The Swiss companies are engaged mainly in research and production. Leister Technologies AG with its business areas of plastic welding, process heat and laser plastic welding forms the company’s original core. It produces equipment for welding thermoplastic synthetic materials, hot air modules for industrial process heat and laser plastic welding systems. Axetris AG is active in the fields of gas sensors and micro-optics. Activities in this segment began in 1998; Axetris has been an independent company within the group since 2011. Its registered office is Kägiswil. Ascent GmbH is also among the Leister Group’s Swiss companies. The seven international branches focus on the sale of Leister products and services. There are branches in Aachen, Itasca, Shanghai, Chennai, Osaka, Houten, and Milan.
