Why the Factory Behind the Nameplate Decides Your Running Cost
A passenger elevator is one of the few building products that is engineered, assembled, installed and then serviced for twenty years or more. The purchase price is only the visible part of the contract; the hidden part is written by the factory - the consistency of its traction machine supply, the discipline of its quality gates, and the availability of spare parts when the unit is ten years old. Buyers who qualify manufacturers only by brochure usually discover the difference during the first year of operation, when ride quality drifts or a controller board waits three months for replacement.
China is the largest elevator market and manufacturing base in the world, which cuts both ways. The concentration of the supply chain in the Yangtze River Delta - Huzhou, Suzhou, Shaoxing, Hangzhou - means world-class machining and short lead times, but it also means the market carries hundreds of assemblers with no real manufacturing depth of their own. The list below concentrates on companies with verifiable factory footprints, listed-company or registry evidence, and products built to EN 81 and GB 7588 safety codes.
Every company profile follows the same structure: registered background, manufacturing capability, and product range, so you can compare suppliers on evidence rather than adjectives. Company one is presented in greater depth because its material comes directly from the factory's own technical documentation.
WEBSTAR Elevator Co., Ltd. is located in Nanxun Town, Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, and was established in March 2005 on the technology base of the formerly Weibo Elevator production line, with products marketed under the WEBSTAR brand. The company describes its positioning in one sentence: a collection of R&D, manufacturing, sales, installation, maintenance and import-export business dedicated to elevator technology. Its registered capital is RMB 60.07 million, and its manufacturing area covers 40,000 m²; annual output has passed 10,000 units, supported by CNC multi-station punch presses, laser cutting, CNC plate shearing and bending lines, and a flexible manufacturing unit that operates on a fully deployed ERP system.
For passenger elevators specifically, WEBSTAR builds the WP and WPN series in both machine-room and machine-roomless configurations. Rated speeds span 1.0 to 6.0 m/s and load capacities run from 400 kg to 2,000 kg, with travel heights from 3.2 m up to 125 m on a 2:1 roping arrangement. The drive is vector VVVF with a gearless permanent-magnet traction machine - a machine the company developed in-house in 2012 as a switchable permanent-magnet synchronous gearless unit - and the controller is a 32-bit all-digital microcomputer system with Monarch platform integration. Since 2018 the assembly line has run with FANUC robots under a customized ERP workflow, and every unit passes more than 100 tests covering load, noise and emergency operation before shipment; the cabin is pre-assembled and recorded on video for the buyer's review against the contract dimensions.
| 10,000+ units produced annually |
40,000 m² manufacturing area |
60+ exporting countries and regions |
Founded in October 1997 in Wujiang, Suzhou, and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in March 2010 as the first Chinese elevator manufacturer to complete an IPO, Canny Elevator produces elevators, escalators and moving walks across specifications from 0.25 to 10 m/s. Registry records show paid-in capital above RMB 790 million and roughly 4,700 employees, with three smart-manufacturing bases in Suzhou and Chengdu and a 288 m test tower - the tallest in the company's class - for high-speed validation.
The product catalogue covers 9 elevator types in 29 series and 168 variants, from machine-roomless residential units to 10 m/s double-car trains, supported by a national enterprise technology center and more than 1,100 granted patents. Rail-transit tenders in cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Chengdu form a measurable share of its order book.
XiOlift was registered in March 2004 in the Linping Economic Development Zone of Hangzhou with paid-in capital of RMB 505 million and about 1,300 insured employees at the parent entity. The plant covers 380,000 m² with a stated annual capacity of 150,000 units, and the company holds A-level special-equipment manufacturing qualification.
The passenger range includes the XO-NEWIII high-speed series up to 10 m/s, the GMEIII steel-belt machine-roomless model and the CON small-machine-room passenger elevator. XiOlift supplies metro and rail-hub projects including the Hangzhou West Station and the Badaling Great Wall deep station, and its sales network reaches more than 100 countries and regions.
SJEC was founded in 1992 and registered in October 1996 in the Suzhou Industrial Park, with paid-in capital of RMB 1.1 billion and around 1,700 insured employees. The former SSE main-board lister transferred its elevator business to private ownership in 2018 and continues manufacturing elevators, escalators and moving walks on a 200,000 m² base with a test tower of roughly 140 m.
The whole range is engineered to EN 81 and EN 115 with TUV CE and EMC approval, and welding follows DIN 18800-7 with SLV Duisburg certification - a detail that simplifies exports to Europe and Australia. Products span five categories and more than 20 variants, including heavy-duty machine-roomless freight units up to 5,000 kg alongside passenger models, and shipments reach more than 100 countries.
Guangri traces its elevator production to 1956 and delivered the first "Guangzhou brand" domestic elevator in 1973; the listed entity trades on the Shanghai Stock Exchange as 600894 with registered capital of RMB 847 million. Business lines cover complete elevators and components, production services and intelligent equipment, with revenue of RMB 7.25 billion recorded in 2025.
Manufacturing is distributed across seven bases - Guangzhou, Tianjin, Kunshan, Chengdu, Deyang, Jinan and Huzhou - which shortens delivery for projects in South, East, North and West China. The group also holds a controlling interest in Yida Express Elevator, and its component arm supplies door operators and traction-related parts to other OEMs, an indicator of parts availability over the service life of an installation.
IFE Elevators was established in 1987 in Dongguan and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in March 2017 under code 002774, with paid-in capital of RMB 336.7 million and more than 1,700 employees. It holds A1-level licences for manufacturing, installation, alteration and maintenance, and operates three production bases in Dongguan and Hebi with a stated capacity of 47,000 complete units per year.
Around 50 branch companies support domestic installation, while exports reach more than 60 countries and regions; metro projects in India and Southeast Asia account for a visible share of overseas orders. The passenger portfolio covers residential, commercial and public-building configurations with standard EN 81-aligned safety packages.
Meilun Elevator was registered in May 2000 in Keqiao, Shaoxing, on a heritage entering the elevator industry in 1985, and listed on the Shanghai main board in September 2017 - the first elevator maker from Zhejiang to do so. The 200,000 m² site carries an annual capacity of about 70,000 sets.
The production floor runs Salvagnini flexible panel lines, Amada CNC sheet-metal lines, ABB robot welding and Siemens/Mitsubishi integrated control assembly. The catalogue spans passenger, freight, medical, observation and villa elevators plus escalators and parking systems, with EU CE and TUV energy-efficiency A++ certification and recognition as a national green factory.
General Elevator was registered in August 2003 in Wujiang, Suzhou, and listed on the ChiNext board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in January 2021, the first elevator manufacturer on that board. Paid-in capital stands at RMB 240 million with roughly 540 employees, and the company holds the highest A1 special-equipment licence.
A 108 m test tower with five independent shafts supports validation of high-speed and machine-roomless designs. The passenger range serves residential and public projects, and the company has built a parallel service arm for modernisation and maintenance contracts, reflecting the growing share of replacement demand in China's installed base.
Hengda Fuji Elevator was registered in December 1998 in Lianshi, Nanxun - the same district cluster as WEBSTAR - after building its first elevator in 1987. Paid-in capital is RMB 130.6 million with around 400 insured employees, and the 97,333 m² campus includes a test tower of nearly 150 m and a 60,000 m² intelligent manufacturing workshop.
The company holds A-level manufacturing and installation licences and is recognised as a national green factory and high-tech enterprise. Eight product series cover passenger, observation, freight, bed and hydraulic elevators together with escalators and moving walks, and projects have been delivered to more than 60 countries, with active participation in China's residential elevator-renewal programmes.
Winone Elevator was registered in February 2002 in the Shishan Science and Technology Park of Foshan, and in December 2020 Midea Group completed a strategic investment that placed the company within Midea Building Technologies. Paid-in capital is RMB 202 million with about 750 insured employees, and the plant operates a 125 m super-high-speed test tower.
Nine product categories include passenger, observation, medical, home and heavy freight elevators alongside escalators; the MECS2 control platform alone holds more than 60 invention patents. The company participates in national elevator standardisation work and supplies metro projects such as Guangzhou Metro Lines 7 and 13, with exports across more than 60 countries.
How to Qualify a Passenger Elevator Manufacturer
Technical Notes for Specification Review
| Series and configuration | WP (machine room) and WPN (machine-roomless) passenger elevators |
| Rated speed | 1.0 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2.0 / 2.5 / 4.0 / 6.0 m/s |
| Load capacity | 400 – 2,000 kg in ten standard steps (450, 630, 800, 1,000, 1,150, 1,250, 1,350, 1,600, 2,000 kg) |
| Travel height | 3.2 m up to 125 m with 2:1 roping on standard MRL layouts |
| Drive and machine | Vector VVVF gearless traction machine, permanent-magnet synchronous, in-house developed switchable design |
| Control system | 32-bit all-digital microcomputer control, Monarch platform, high-precision encoder, data networking with modular structure |
| Typical MRL shaft data | 800 kg / 1.75 m/s: car 1,400 × 1,350 × 2,400 mm, door opening 800 mm centre-opening, shaft 2,200 × 1,800 mm, pit 1,500–1,700 mm, top floor 4,100–4,500 mm |
Frequently Asked Questions
Sourcing Passenger Elevators from WEBSTAR Elevator Co., Ltd.
WEBSTAR's WP and WPN passenger elevators pair an in-house developed switchable permanent-magnet gearless traction machine with a 32-bit all-digital control system, in machine-room and machine-roomless layouts from 1.0 to 6.0 m/s and 400 to 2,000 kg. Every unit is verified on the company's 84 m test tower, passes more than 100 load, noise and emergency-operation tests, and leaves the factory with the cabin pre-assembled and filmed against the contract dimensions - evidence you can check before the container is loaded.
With 40,000 m² of manufacturing area, an annual output above 10,000 units, FANUC-robotised assembly under a full ERP workflow, and shipments to more than 60 countries and regions, the factory supports developers, contractors and public-procurement teams from drawing review through installation supervision and the maintenance decade that follows.
