Elevator sector helps lift economy in Shandong

Workers weld elevator components in a workshop in Ningjin county. [Photo by Zhang Ruikang for chinadaily.com.cn]

Ningjin county – administered by Dezhou city in East China's Shandong province – has become a leading industrial base for elevator equipment manufacturing in the country.

That's widely said to be due to its innovation and the quality improvements it has rolled out over the past four decades.

Zhang Libo, chairman of manufacturer Ningjin Sanli Elevator Parts Co, said Ningjin's elevator industry started in 1977 when elevator parts producers began emerging in the county and it now has the biggest market share in the sector north of the Yangtze River.

Things get under way at an elevator production workshop in Ningjin county. [Photo by Zhang Ruikang for chinadaily.com.cn]

With its accelerated urbanization, Ningjin county introduced a series of policies to support the elevator industry. From 2010 to 2013, eight enterprises qualified to manufacture complete elevators.

In 2013, Ningjin's elevator sector was listed as one of Shandong's key featured industrial clusters, while in 2014 it was recognized as a Shandong Elevator Equipment Manufacturing Base. In 2017, Ningjin's elevator industry cluster was selected as a pilot project for Shandong province's industry cluster standard construction.

These days, Shandong has 38 elevator manufacturers and Ningjin county alone has 13 of them – including a number of leading enterprises such as Shandong Fujizy Elevator Co Ltd, Shandong Bolt Elevator Co Ltd and Shandong Rhein Aijia Elevator Co Ltd.

These companies have independently developed over 300 new varieties of components and obtained more than 1,100 patents. (Edited by Fan Yuanyuan)