Company Spotlight: Shanghai BST

Shanghai BST joint venture with Fermator sees success by putting customers first.

Your author was at Hangtou Town in Shanghai in March 2003 to witness the opening ceremony of a joint-venture company (JVC) between Shanghai BST and Fermator Door Systems (ELEVATOR WORLD, August 2003). Now, 14 years later, what does Shanghai BST look like?

The JVC was seen as one step in a remarkable series of changes that had taken place in the development of Shanghai BST, notably in its manufacture of elevator doors. I spent about an hour one afternoon in May talking to company officials and finding out what has changed since that day in 2003. Zhu Xiaodi, now chairman of the board, and Shelley Zhou spared time to meet with their old EW friend.

After my arrival, a Shanghai BST employee named Connie showed me around the company premises, which have taken on an appealing look. It was toward the end of the working day, but some young employees were coming into the office building. Connie said:

“This is due to the increasing orders from customers. When it is necessary, people in the workshop work on an evening shift, and office staff will do the same to back them up, or to help the workers, especially when they need technical support.” 

 Shanghai BST Door System Co., a unit of Shanghai BST, was founded in 2007. In 2009, it began independent R&D of drives and controls; in 2014, it was certified with ISO 14001 and ISO 18000 Quality Systems, and, in 2015, with UTC Q+3 Quality Systems. It then started providing the market with five series of mass-manufactured elevator door systems.

Everything is done here based on customer needs. Shanghai BST is at its best when it is tailoring elevator components to individual customers, fitting in every detail of a customer’s expectation for any size, shape and color, as well as adding logos on products and packing crates. What impresses me in the showhall is the varied series of car panels with different push buttons. As you press each button, its corresponding technical specification appears on the screen in front of you. This display offers great convenience and time savings for the customer.

Seeing is believing. Shanghai BST seems to have followed a very simple business philosophy — to make customers more satisfied, elevators safer, work easier and employees happier. It’s simple enough to turn a Chinese component business into a global thriving star.