Back to feed
Economy
From China's First Elevator to Exports in 75 Countries: Overseas Chinese Media Visit Shenyang Sanyo Heavy Industry Group
Reporter 王子龙
On September 20, the 2026 'Chasing the Chinese Dream, Discovering Liaoning' overseas Chinese-language media delegation visited Shenyang Sanyo Heavy Industry Group Co., Ltd. Representatives from overseas Chinese-language media outlets across 12 countries and regions worldwide, together with central Chinese media outlets, toured this veteran heavy-industry enterprise that has been rooted in Shenyang for more than seven decades. As a calling card of Liaoning's equipment manufacturing sector, Sanyo Heavy Industry's own growth trajectory has tracked almost in step with China's special equipment industry as it built itself up from nothing.
According to public information, Sanyo Heavy Industry is one of Liaoning's key private enterprises, with a business scope covering the full chain of R&D, manufacturing, sales, installation, repair, renovation and maintenance for special equipment including elevators, escalators, freight elevators, tower cranes and various pressure vessels. Over its history, the company has produced New China's first elevator, first tower crane and first spherical storage tank, making it something of a microcosm of the development of China's special equipment manufacturing industry.
Sanyo Heavy Industry is headquartered in Shenyang and operates four production bases across Shenyang, Shanghai, Kaiyuan and Beijing, with a combined site area of more than 1.08 million square meters and roughly 3,100 employees. Its products are sold across mainland China as well as Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and exported to 75 countries and regions including Russia, Japan, South Korea, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa — building brand recognition for domestically made heavy industrial equipment in markets at home and abroad.
The delegation learned that the group's subsidiary, Shenyang Sanyo Elevator Co., Ltd., carries considerable weight within the industry: it serves as a vice-chair unit of the China Elevator Association and secretary-general unit of the association's Design and Manufacturing Committee, as well as chair unit of the Shenyang Elevator Association, with more than 70 years of elevator manufacturing history behind it. Its predecessor, the Shenyang Elevator Factory, was where New China's first elevator was born, and the company took part in drafting the national elevator safety standard GB7588 in 1993 — earning it a reputation within the industry as the 'cradle of New China's elevators.'
On certifications and honors, the company has passed the three major management system certifications for quality, environment, and occupational health and safety, and has obtained European CE certification along with market-access certification for Russia. Backed by stable product quality and technological innovation capacity, Sanyo Heavy Industry has been recognized as a National High-Tech Enterprise, named among China's Top 10 Influential Elevator Brands, designated an Advanced-level Smart Factory by Liaoning province, and has repeatedly been honored as one of the top 10 government-procurement elevator maintenance enterprises and a national advanced enterprise for user satisfaction.
From a string of industrial 'firsts' in New China's history to products now sold in 75 countries and regions, Sanyo Heavy Industry is leaning on technological iteration and smart manufacturing upgrades to keep strengthening its core competitiveness. Company representatives said they would continue pushing Liaoning-made equipment out onto the world stage — giving the visiting overseas Chinese-language media a firsthand look at a living example of Liaoning's old industrial base reinventing itself.
