Wuxi Liri: 20 Years of Smart Shading Innovation

2025-04-25

In China's smart shading industry, there is a visionary entrepreneur who registered and established Wuxi Liri Energy Technology Co., Ltd. in 2009, embarking on a journey of exploration in the smart shading sector.

In March 2025, as spring emerged, Zhongshi Jinjianlian Media interviewed this pioneer in the smart shading field—Xu Xu, General Manager of Wuxi Liri Energy Technology Co., Ltd.—at Beijing Jingyin Tower. During the over-hour interview, Xu Xu spoke at length, exuding wisdom and foresight. He keenly grasped industry trends and market changes, showcasing unique insights into the future.

Zhongshi Jinjianlian Media has a dialogue with Xu Xu, General Manager of Wuxi Liri Energy Technology Co., Ltd.

1 / Origin of the Industry

After being demobilized from the army, Xu Xu started working in a research institute. In 1994, at the beginning of China's reform and opening up, he chose to "dive into the business world" and start his own business. He once ran a computer company and engaged in export business. He witnessed the golden age of foreign trade development and also experienced the hardships of starting a business from scratch. Later, he joined a foreign trade company, taking charge of production and export, and accumulated rich experience in production management and both domestic and overseas markets.

In 2008, the convening of the Copenhagen Climate Conference drew the world's attention to energy conservation and emission reduction. At that time, Xu Xu's younger brother, Xu Peng, was working at the Berkeley National Energy Laboratory in the United States, conducting research on building energy conservation and green buildings, and had developed a set of intelligent shading control system. Xu Xu keenly perceived the huge potential in the field of building shading. He said, "As an effective means of energy conservation in the construction industry, shading has a very low level of intelligence. At that time, the penetration rate of intelligent shading in the North American market was less than 15%, and even basic manual shading had not been popularized in China. This led to a very low utilization rate of shading materials, probably only 10% to 30%."

Inspired by Wuxi's "530 Plan" policy, which aimed to attract overseas high-end talents to return to China and start businesses, and considering the domestic background of energy conservation and emission reduction, the two brothers reached a consensus and established Wuxi Liri Energy Technology Co., Ltd. in 2009. The company is committed to the research, development, and production of intelligent shading products, transforming what they learned overseas into the driving force for industrialization. When constructing a green building, the carbon emissions are an important evaluation indicator. The carbon emissions throughout the entire life cycle of a green building include the materials consumed during the construction process, the energy consumption during the building's use period, and the carbon emissions generated during the final demolition. Therefore, although adding shading devices during the construction process will increase the initial carbon emissions, these shading materials can effectively save more carbon emissions during the use process, which is a real contribution to green buildings. However, if the utilization rate of shading products is very low, it means that the increased carbon emissions during construction have not been effectively recovered during use, and such an increase loses its meaning and instead causes waste.

The intelligent control system developed by Wuxi Liri can greatly improve the comprehensive utilization rate of shading facilities, truly achieving energy conservation and emission reduction in buildings. At the beginning, Wuxi Liri chose to set up a base in Jiangsu Province and launched an intelligent control device for middle-mounted shading. At that time, in the high-rise buildings in Jiangsu, the utilization rate of installed blinds was extremely low. Especially during the hottest period in summer, the utilization rate was only around 20%, and most of the shading equipment was hardly used, resulting in a waste of resources.

Xu Xu said, "Our intelligent shading products are precisely designed to solve this problem. They aim to increase the utilization rate, enable the shading materials to truly play their role, and thus achieve the goal of energy conservation and emission reduction. This is the core value of our products."

2 / First creation

Wuxi Liri is the first company in China to launch intelligent shading products. Currently, globally, only Liri provides intelligent control solutions for middle-mounted shading. Although some foreign products are electric, they do not possess automated intelligent control functions. The Liri intelligent shading system can operate automatically according to the environment without the need for human commands.

In the international market, especially in Europe, although there are also intelligent shading products, they are mainly used for external shading. Buildings abroad are generally relatively low-rise, and it is relatively easy to install external shading on the outside of windows, and maintenance and replacement are also more convenient. Most buildings in China are high-rise residential buildings, so middle-mounted shading is more suitable.

Foreign intelligent shading systems are usually centralized, consisting of one controller, with a cost as high as 50,000 to 60,000 yuan. However, Wuxi Liri has adopted a distributed design, which can achieve both centralized control and decentralized control. It can support the intelligentization of a single piece of glass, and the price of the controller is only 300 yuan. This design is more in line with China's national conditions and market demands.

Although the concept of intelligent shading was not first created in China, Wuxi Liri has combined it with the actual needs of the domestic market and developed a middle-mounted shading system suitable for the Chinese market, meeting the needs of domestic consumers.

3 / Dilemma of the Industry

The state advocates building energy conservation and stipulates that shading devices must be installed on the southeast and west sides of newly built buildings to reduce the energy consumption of air conditioners. Although the policy requirements are clear, the relevant regulations are not perfect, especially with insufficient attention paid to the utilization rate of products. The intelligent products of Wuxi Liri have increased the utilization rate and achieved the goal of energy conservation, but their costs are higher compared with ordinary manual products. In residential projects, developers, as the constructors, focus on the construction cost rather than the usage cost. They often meet the policy requirements with low costs, and a large number of projects still use manual blinds, resulting in insufficient market demand for intelligent products.

When Wuxi Liri initially promoted its intelligent shading products, it failed to fully consider the market demand, especially the developers' acceptance of intelligent products, which led to the market not being fully opened up. Facing the awkward market situation, the operation of Wuxi Liri faced shrinkage, and the sales volume declined. The tens of millions of yuan initially invested was quickly exhausted, and many people chose to leave.

In such a situation, the future of the enterprise became precarious. Xu Xu, who was originally in charge of factory management and research and development, had to take over the marketing work. At that time, there were still more than thirty people left in the company, and the survival pressure was great. The pilot projects in Jiangsu Province were not large in scale, and the demand for intelligent products was relatively limited. In order to survive, Xu Xu decided to launch manual blinds first to ensure the company's cash flow. Xu Xu said, "We believe that intelligent products are beneficial to society and in line with the national industrial policy, but our top priority at the moment is to stay afloat."

During the period from 2014 to 2017, Wuxi Liri went through difficult times and even faced the dilemma of being unable to pay salaries. In order to maintain operations, Xu Xu had to raise funds everywhere and tried to enter the home improvement market. Although the order volume in the home improvement market was small, there were various demands. After several years of hard work, Wuxi Liri finally recovered in 2017, the team survived, and all the loans were paid off in 2019. Xu Xu said that by the Spring Festival in 2019, he could finally celebrate the festival without worrying about financial problems.

From the perspective of local interests, manual products enable developers to reduce costs. However, from the perspective of the interests of the whole society and the country, the popularization of manual products has led to a waste of resources. With the growth of market demand, the evaluation of green buildings will pay more attention to whether they can achieve the expected results during the operation stage. Some documents in Pudong, Shanghai, stipulate that the evaluation of green buildings is not only based on the design but also on the actual energy consumption after two years of operation. If this evaluation method is widely implemented, intelligent shading products will become a necessary requirement rather than just an added bonus, which will greatly expand the market for intelligent shading.

Xu Xu said that the market demand for intelligent shading products is clear. For example, in the Innovation Port project in Changzhou, the property owners are both the constructors and the users, so they care more about the usage cost. When installing in the model houses, Wuxi Liri demonstrated the advantages of intelligent products to the property owners. After learning about them, the property owners and designers decided to replace all the devices with intelligent products, and the additional cost was only between 3% and 5%. In the Joy City project in Shanghai, the developer initially chose manual blinds. However, after learning about the advantages of Liri's intelligent products, they were willing to double the budget and replace all the shading devices with intelligent products to maintain the overall high-end quality. Therefore, from a macro perspective, the promotion and application of intelligent shading products are extremely necessary. This is a choice that is responsible for the long-term interests of society and the country.

4 / Market Trends

Since 2017, there have been changes in the design of home decoration doors and windows. The types of residential houses have gradually shifted from small-sized houses that meet basic housing needs to improved-type houses. This has made the size of each single piece of glass window larger. Manual shading products cannot meet the requirements when dealing with large-sized glass because their magnetic force and mechanical structure cannot support the weight. On the other hand, electric products have become a necessary demand, especially in the case of needing large-sized built-in glass. The technical threshold for electric products is relatively high, and compared with manual products, many manufacturers find it difficult to enter this market. Wuxi Liri has accumulated more than ten years of experience in the field of electric products, with obvious competitive advantages. The newly launched controller supports direct control via mobile phones and stepless speed regulation to adjust the angle of the blinds, meeting the diverse needs of users.

With the need for energy conservation and emission reduction in the industry, as well as people's pursuit of operational convenience, more and more intelligent products have emerged. Traditional shading materials rely on manual adjustment, and electric products need to be controlled through switches. Both are passive working modes and cannot achieve true intelligence.

The intelligent products developed by Wuxi Liri can work automatically without the need for users to worry. Take a sunroom as an example. If intelligent products are not used, when users go out in the morning, they may not think of drawing the curtains or adjusting the blinds. However, as the sunlight becomes intense during the day, the sunroom will be exposed to the sun all day long. When users return home, the sunroom will be as stuffy as a steamer, greatly reducing the living experience.

With the intelligent products of Wuxi Liri, there is no need to worry about the shading problem. Users only need to switch it to the intelligent mode, and the sunroom will automatically shade according to the angle of sunlight, ensuring that the environment remains cool and comfortable when they get home. This not only improves the users' living comfort but also truly achieves energy conservation and emission reduction.

Xu Xu said, "The main consumer groups nowadays are the post-80s, post-90s, and even post-00s generations. They are more inclined to use intelligent products. Therefore, in response to this consumption trend, we will continuously improve and upgrade our products to better meet the market demand."

5 / Product Advantages

The shading products of Wuxi Liri have undergone strict quality control and production inspection processes, which can provide higher reliability and user satisfaction in the market, ensuring excellent performance during long-term use.

Xu Xu introduced, "In terms of material selection, we always adhere to the use of high-quality materials, such as the selection of lifting ropes. Although the slats of the blinds can ensure a service life of 25 years, can the lifting ropes, which are often ignored by many manufacturers, maintain a service life of 25 years under continuous sunlight exposure?" In order to ensure the anti-ultraviolet performance and durability of the lifting ropes, Wuxi Liri will conduct strict comparative tests. Regardless of the cost, it will use imported high-quality lifting ropes and provide customers with anti-ultraviolet reports to enhance customers' trust in the products.

Manual products rely on magnetic force for transmission, so the requirements of sunlight temperature need to be considered when selecting magnetic materials. Liri uses 45M magnets with higher temperature resistance instead of the commonly seen N45 magnets in the market. Although the nominal temperature resistance of N45 magnets is 80°C, in actual use, this temperature may not be achievable, and it is likely to cause a decrease in magnetic force. The 45M magnets can withstand temperatures as high as 100°C, ensuring that the magnetic force can still be maintained in a high-temperature environment and avoiding the problem of demagnetization after long-term use.

In terms of product structural design, in order to avoid the problems of condensation or fogging during the 20-year usage period, Liri's middle-mounted shading products adopt a unique split design, ensuring that the molecular sieve can be evenly filled, which greatly improves the performance of the products.

In the production process, Wuxi Liri implements a strict multi-step inspection process. After the assembly of electric products is completed, they need to go through multiple tests, including inspections after the glass panels are combined and sealed with adhesive. Each product must go through at least three inspection procedures before leaving the factory. Wuxi Liri conducts a 100% comprehensive inspection of the products to ensure that every product leaving the factory meets high-standard quality requirements.

6 / Future Innovation

When talking about the future innovation direction of Liri Shading, Xu Xu said, "We are exploring how to combine artificial intelligence (AI) technology with middle-mounted shading products to achieve a higher level of intelligence. The main focuses of future development will be on intelligence and energy conservation."

From the perspective of energy conservation, Wuxi Liri hopes to maximize the role of shading materials and study how to effectively reflect light into the room, thereby reducing the dependence on artificial lighting and improving the indoor natural lighting effect.

In terms of enhancing the convenience of life, Wuxi Liri conducts in-depth research on the needs of different application scenarios, such as special places like hotels and hospitals. The scenarios in hospitals are relatively complex, including various environments such as wards and operating rooms. Each environment requires corresponding intelligent solutions to meet different needs. Therefore, Wuxi Liri will conduct in-depth market research to determine the intelligent needs in various scenarios, so as to develop more targeted products.

In terms of installation and maintenance, Wuxi Liri adopts the control method of photovoltaic panels and lithium batteries, which makes the installation and later maintenance of products more convenient. In addition, Wuxi Liri is also exploring how to effectively combine middle-mounted shading products with large-area glass curtain walls.

Xu Xu said, "With more and more modern buildings adopting glass curtain walls, we need to study how to install shading products more effectively in these buildings and achieve convenient maintenance. These are the key directions we need to consider in our future development."

7 / International Market

With the excess domestic production capacity, going global has become an important strategic choice. Especially under the Belt and Road Initiative, many countries are carrying out large-scale infrastructure construction, which provides broad market opportunities for Chinese enterprises. By exporting the huge domestic infrastructure construction capabilities and high-quality products abroad, the market can be effectively expanded, and the problem of excess domestic production capacity can be alleviated.

Among many international markets, Wuxi Liri is more optimistic about the potential of the Middle East region. Due to its geographical and climatic characteristics, the Middle East region needs shading products throughout the year to deal with strong sunlight and high temperatures. Therefore, the market demand for shading products is very strong. Wuxi Liri can meet the needs of the local market by providing high-quality shading solutions, thus achieving a win-win situation.

When talking about promoting products overseas, Xu Xu said that he hopes to leverage the power of the international media platform of Zhongshi Jinjianlian to introduce Liri's intelligent shading products to the international market and enhance the brand's international popularity.

Xu Xu said, "By going global, we can not only contribute to reducing carbon emissions in China but also play a part in achieving the global sustainable development goals. We hope that by promoting energy-saving products, we can help other countries reduce their carbon emissions and adopt a more environmentally friendly way of life. Ultimately, we aim to make a positive contribution to the sustainable development of all mankind."

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