The magnificent 70 years have been 70 years of overcoming obstacles and forging ahead through thick and thin. Every step taken by the People’s Republic of China on its path to growth and strength has been made possible thanks to the concerted efforts and shared hardships of the non-public sector economy and the vast number of entrepreneurs in the non-public sector.
 
On this glorious occasion marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China, we issued a call and invitation to private entrepreneurs across the city, receiving numerous extraordinary stories of innovation and entrepreneurship. Through this column, let us together embrace and carry forward the outstanding entrepreneurial spirit—a spirit characterized by unwavering confidence and a relentless drive to seize every moment. Together, let us join hands and write a new chapter in the Chinese Dream for the new era!
 

Gide Law
President of Shanghai STEP Electric Co., Ltd.

 
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China. Over the past seven decades, under the leadership of the Party, our motherland has undergone earth-shattering changes. Our generation of private entrepreneurs has grown up alongside the country’s development. Inspired by Deng Xiaoping’s Southern Tour Speech, I gave up my stable government job and embarked on the path of entrepreneurship, founding Shanghai STEP Electric Co., Ltd. Today, STEP has become a publicly listed company. Its business scope has expanded from solely providing control and drive products for elevators to encompassing a wide range of industries and diversified products—including robots, intelligent manufacturing production lines, cloud services, the internet, and a nationally accredited automated product testing laboratory. All of this is thanks to our great Party and our great People’s Government.
 
The power of my dream has set me on the path to entrepreneurship.
 
In the 1980s, one of the listening comprehension texts in graduate English textbooks was a speech by the African-American hero Martin Luther King Jr., titled “I Have a Dream.” This speech gave me considerable insight. In fact, once I embarked on the entrepreneurial journey, the power of dreams played a pivotal role. Shortly after starting our business, when we were developing our corporate culture strategy, we came up with the slogan “Step by Step, Dreams Come True”—originally meaning “One step at a time, dreams become reality.” At that time, society tended to have more negative perceptions of dreams, so in our company’s promotional materials, the Chinese explanation was changed to “One step at a time—wishes come true right here.”
 
When we first started our business, we focused solely on retrofitting and upgrading old elevator technology. Elevators are vertical transportation devices—highly sophisticated electromechanical products that demand advanced automation control technologies. Therefore, their operational stability, efficiency, and safety and reliability are of paramount importance. At that time, China’s elevator technology was relatively backward, with frequent accidents and constant reports of elevator-related fatalities and injuries. In response, in 1992, the state issued the “Several Provisions on Improving Elevator Quality,” setting a deadline for “phasing out outdated products.”
 

Early stage of entrepreneurship
 

My research topic during graduate school was “Modern Control Theory and Its Applications.” I know that the technological backwardness of elevators and the associated safety risks are primarily due to the outdated elevator control technology and the obsolete control components themselves. At that time, I was serving as chief engineer at an elevator factory owned by a state-owned enterprise in Shanghai. This regulation has opened up entrepreneurial opportunities for me. I firmly believe that I have the capability to develop elevator control products that meet national safety standards—products that are highly reliable, highly efficient, highly stable, and internationally advanced in performance.
 
In the early days of our startup, we landed a significant business deal that made headlines twice on the front page of the Liberation Daily, becoming a celebrated story in the elevator industry. In early 1994, the Liberation Daily featured a front-page article reporting that four imported elevators in two 24-story apartment buildings in a residential community had been plagued with constant malfunctions—almost daily they would trap residents inside, leaving them too afraid to go out on weekends for fear of being stuck if the elevators broke down. On one occasion, an elderly woman, unable to use the elevator due to its frequent breakdowns, had to be carried upstairs by a construction worker. Upon reading this report, we immediately decided to bid on the elevator renovation project. After our renovation efforts, the elevators were completely transformed and operated flawlessly for several months without a single malfunction. The property management company even held a special commendation ceremony to recognize our work. To this day, more than twenty years later, these elevators continue to operate smoothly and reliably.
 
Bold innovation has enabled STEP to achieve rapid development.
 
Technically upgrading old elevators was our first entrepreneurial step—starting from scratch. As reform and opening-up deepened gradually, major international elevator companies began entering China one after another, bringing with them cutting-edge technologies featuring fully computerized and fully variable-speed elevators. At that time, privately-owned elevator manufacturers also emerged continuously. However, whether state-owned or private, despite adopting elevator control products that met national standards, the logic-control products used by domestic enterprises still lagged far behind the intelligent control systems employed by international brands—a technological gap that was strikingly evident. Although imported-brand elevators were expensive, the market was virtually dominated by them; in mid- to high-end residential developments, almost all projects opted for imported-brand elevators.
 
At this point, our company had already built up considerable strength and seized the opportunity to develop a fully computerized, intelligent elevator controller that was on par with international cutting-edge technology. Our corporate culture—“Open to the world and striving for the best”—inspired us to take on the challenge of mastering the latest global technologies. Through hard work and determination, we finally succeeded!
 
China’s economy is booming, and high-rise buildings are springing up across the country like mushrooms after a rain. Currently, China leads the world by a wide margin in the number of elevators in use; STEP installed base exceeds 1.5 million units. Moreover, STEP elevator control products are now available in countries around the globe, with tens of thousands of units exported each year. Today, most major international elevator brands have chosen to equip their systems with our intelligent elevator control solutions.
 
Today, developers no longer view elevators as costly electromechanical equipment; rather, it’s the general public who truly benefits. In this regard, STEP has made its own contribution.
 
Grateful that development has coincided with a great era.
 
After more than a decade of development, STEP has successfully listed on the Shenzhen Main Board. The company’s development goals are also undergoing a transformation—from focusing solely on elevator control and drive products to embracing comprehensive development across multiple industries, technologies, and product lines. Currently, STEP is positioning intelligent manufacturing-related motion control products and robotic workstations as its new pillar industries. In 2018 alone, STEP SCARA robots, primarily serving the 3C industry, achieved shipments of 3,000 units, placing them among the top performers nationwide. Moreover, STEP robotic welding lines for automotive white-body assemblies rank among the top ten nationwide.
 
STEP R&D investment accounts for more than 7% of its operating revenue. In addition to robotics, we are vigorously pursuing the development and rapid advancement of new technologies and products—including motion control platform development, AGV vehicles, intelligent manufacturing production lines, 5G applications, and IoT solutions. The deep integration of information technology and industry, smart equipment based on information systems, and intelligent factories—STEP technological innovation is constantly on the move.
 
Against the backdrop of a new era, the development of enterprises is no longer a matter of speed—it’s a question of business models, strategic positioning, and the joint pursuit of growth between employees and the company. The challenges facing enterprises are becoming increasingly complex, and the pressures are growing ever more intense; yet at the same time, opportunities are also multiplying.
 
Since its founding, STEP has made some progress, but we’re still far from realizing our dream and have plenty of untapped potential. We’ve happened to be living in a great era, and I’ve been constantly pondering how we can seize this historic opportunity, make the most of the high-quality resources offered by listed-company capital operations, move forward with the times, strive for innovation, and actively pursue growth—aiming to build STEP into a modern, large-scale, intelligent manufacturing enterprise.

Email:
market@stepelectric.com

Address:
No. 1560, Siyi Road, Jiading District, Shanghai Municipality