We are Leister

A collage depicting individuals working in varied professional environments such as offices, laboratories, manufacturing floors, and field sites, illustrating a range of modern technical, administrative, and industrial job roles.

Under the Leister brand, we develop products for plastic welding and process heat applications. With our technologies like hot air and infrared, and our passion for innovation, we’re able to influence our market segment worldwide.

Our employees are proud to produce high-quality premium products with strong, reliable performance. Close cooperation with our worldwide customers, sales partners and suppliers is essential for mutual success. Local experts provide sales and service support to our customers in over 100 countries. Eight country subsidiaries and 130 sales and service partners guarantee our worldwide presence and customer proximity.

Professionals & Home

Extrusion welders, blowers and heat guns from Leister are in demand worldwide and in use everywhere to thermally join or form plastics in apparatus and container construction. They impress with their welding consistency and process safety. Applications include 3D printing with an automated extruder on a robotic arm, construction and repair of aquaculture or hard plastic boats, inflatable boats, as well as ballast and fresh water tanks made from plastic membranes.

When tunnels or landfills are built, the quality of the welded seam is the top priority. This is because leaks would have fatal consequences for people and the environment. Geomembranes made of PE that are used for the seam must therefore be welded tight in the long term. Welding machines and hot air blowers from Leister are used for this.

Elastic floor coverings made of plastic, as well as natural materials such as linoleum and rubber, are practical and often installed in public spaces and private homes. With corresponding automatic floor welding machines from Leister, the joints in the sheets of the material can be sealed tightly. And for precise detail work, handy hot air blowers such as the TRIAC models or the SOLANO AT from Leister are ideal.

Technical textiles such as placards, tents and truck tarpaulins made of thermoplastic-coated fabrics can be processed and welded effortlessly with plastic welding machines from Leister. The welding seams look visually good and are long-lasting. They are also particularly dense because the material is not perforated as with sewing.

For sealing flat and pitched roofs, roofers from all over the world rely on proven Leister automatic welding machines. For example, the VARIMAT from Leister is suitable for overlap welding the plastic roof membranes on very large roof surfaces such as the flat roofs of industrial buildings. For medium-sized flat or pitched roofs, the smaller and handy lightweight UNIROOF semi-automatic welding machine is used.

Industrial Systems

All over the world, blowers, hot air blowers, ignition blowers and air heaters from Leister are used in industrial production processes every day. Leister is the ideal partner when it comes to individual and standardized solutions in many branches of industry. Industrial Leister hot air systems are easy to control, simple to integrate and impress with their high performance and long service life.

Infrared Heaters

Infrared heaters from Leister are also used in various industries where fast response times and precise temperature control are required. Typical applications are laminating, thermoforming, and riveting.

Milestones

Founded in 1949 as a sole proprietorship, Leister has grown continuously and has developed into a globally present and very successful company. Leister is the market leader in innovative technologies for processing plastics.

1949

Karl Leister founds the individual enterprise "Karl Leister Elektro-Gerätebau" in Solingen, Germany.

2011

Leister Process Technologies with its business units Leister and Axetris, as well as the Leister subsidiaries abroad, are transformed into a corporate structure.
Leister AG becomes the holding company for the new Leister Group.

2016

Start of digital transformation, Leister GEOSTAR G7 LQS with automated recording of welding parameters

2017

Start of the digital transformation initiative with the myLeister app and other IoT products

2018

Construction of the extension of the factory and the fully automated, small parts warehouse begins in Sarnen
Acquisition of Krelus AG to expand the Leister product portfolio with powerful infrared heaters
Leister Academy for specialized training

2019

Extension completed, enabling the consolidation of Leister Technologies AG’s production building in Sarnen

2020

myLeister web platform with new, digital customer services

2024

Company anniversary: 75 years Leister Group

2025

Leadership change at the Leister Group. Marcel Roth becomes the new Chairman of the Board, and Dr. Nicolas Niedhart is appointed CEO.

ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE LEISTER GROUP

Facts and Figures

Here is an overview of the most important facts and figures of our company.

Founded

1949 as a sole proprietorship

Legal structure

Group structure with 13 companies in 10 countries

Headquarters

Leister AG - Holding company of the Leister Group, Kaegiswil, Switzerland

Employees

900 worldwide, 590 of these in Switzerland

Export share

98 %

Production

Kaegiswil and Sarnen, Switzerland
Shanghai, China
Coimbatore, India

Distribution

8 national companies on three continents
130 distributors with sales and service centers in 100 countries

Product portfolio

Components, systems, devices, machines

Production and Logistics

Our production sites in Switzerland and China are an important part of our value chain. In order to always guarantee high quality, we strive for long-term partnerships throughout the entire supply chain and enter into quality agreements with our suppliers.