LISTEC GmbH manufactures unique sensor cables used in the protection of people, property and premises. The company began by focusing on fire detection with its LIST system for tunnels, but the last ten years have seen it branch out into industrial applications and pinpoint temperature monitoring. The Securitas Group acquired LISTEC in 2014; in Switzerland, its products are sold through Securiton.
The idea of an electronic cable incorporating heat sensors emerged in 1983. Seven years later, BMW subsidiary Mitec GmbH spun off an independent enterprise headed by Peter Schenkenhofer called MüTec GmbH, which changed its name to LISTEC GmbH in 2000. The focus in the early days lay in developing systems capable of monitoring district heating conduits, although this soon mutated to the monitoring of tunnel installations. A major reference object completed in Switzerland in 1993 was a tunnel in Canton Neuchâtel equipped with in excess of 10 kilometres of LIST cable.
Cost-effective monitoring for smaller installations
Approval of the LIST system by the Association of Indemnity Insurers (now VdS Schadenverhütung GmbH) saw it adopted worldwide for tunnels and in industrial facilities. The development of a second system (d-LIST) facilitated cost-effective monitoring for smaller installations, which helped grow the customer base. The company’s success led to a steady rise in its headcount. The construction in 2005 of bespoke premises in Isen near Munich laid the ground for further growth.
Prestige projects such as Hamburg’s Elbe Tunnel, the Fréjus Tunnel in the south of France, the A86 double-deck tunnel in Paris, the Calle 30 in Madrid and Brisbane’s airport link tunnel in Australia have brought well-deserved attention to what are now almost 3000 km of sensor cable deployed in some 500 tunnel and hundreds of industrial facilities throughout the world. Since the company’s acquisition by Switzerland’s Securitas Group in 2014, the LISTEC systems sales and installation network has grown. The headquarters in Isen remain the competence centre and central point of contact for all development, production, engineering and product management matters.
