The signal that sounds in the passenger compartment when an occupant is not wearing a seatbelt--that’s IEE. “We are still the world leader in this market,” explains CEO Paul Schockmel with a smile. IEE specialises in the design and manufacture of sensors, a booming market not only for the automotive industry, but also in other domains where connected objects are a part of our daily lives.
There is a need for sensors to monitor the temperature and pressure in batteries.
These include sensors in health-related devices, in buildings to count people, but also to monitor batteries. “There is a need for sensors to monitor the temperature and pressure in batteries to warn users of any risks, such as explosion,” explains the Luxembourger.
In the medium term, these activities should help to diversify the business sectors of IEE, which is currently more than 90% involved in the automotive industry. The latter is currently at a turning point in its history, between the rise of electric motors on the one hand and the boom in automated driving systems on the other. “This is clearly an opportunity for us, both in the sensor market and in the electronic components market.”
From California to China
IEE was founded in 1989 on the initiative of Arbed. Arbed had bought a licence from a Californian startup to manufacture sensors. Initially focusing on a few medical applications, the company then crossed paths with an automotive giant, the Daimler group. “Mercedes said it was struggling to find a technology capable of detecting the presence of a person in the passenger seat, so our representative gave a demonstration and two years later we were delivering for Mercedes,” recalls Schockmel.
This niche market then became a standard throughout the automotive industry, a move that IEE has replicated with other innovations such as the child seat sensor that deactivates the airbag, the detector for children abandoned in a vehicle and the contactless car starter, to name but the main ones.
While the automotive industry accounts for 90% of IEE’s business, CEO Paul Schockmel explains that the company is looking to increase its presence in other markets. Photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne
“We have very close relations with the organisations responsible for defining safety and protection standards," says the CEO. Whether it’s the European Commission or Euro NCAP (the European New Car Assessment Programme), the equipment manufacturer wants to make its voice and its ideas heard. “There are always road safety problems to be solved, with more than a million people dying on the roads every year around the world.”
Since 2013, the company has been . While its headquarters and oldest factory remain in Luxembourg, IEE also has other factories in Slovakia, France, Tunisia, Mexico and China, not to mention five research centres on three continents.
Luxembourg, the starting point for patents
To stand out from the competition, IEE says it is playing the innovation card. By being the first in a market, the equipment manufacturer ensures that it is one step ahead, particularly in terms of pricing. “We have to have products where we are No. 1, with brands that allow us to finance innovation, because innovation has a price,” he says.
Naturally, the facilities offered by Luxembourg’s intellectual property regime are an advantage for the multinational, whose patent career began in the grand duchy. Last year, IEE recorded sales of €547m, a stable figure when compared with 2021.
This article is part of a summer series dedicated to Luxembourg entrepreneurial success stories. Rendez-vous next Wednesday with Landewyck.
This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.