Company
Hunan Firstrate Sensor Co., Ltd. (brand Firstrate) is based in the Yuhua Economic Development Zone smart manufacturing park in Changsha, Hunan. The company develops, manufactures and sells industrial sensors, intelligent control instruments and IoT sensing, transmission and platform products, and provides customised sensor and IoT system integration solutions. Its predecessor, Changsha Hongqi Instrument Factory, was founded in 1965 and was among China’s first sensor manufacturers. The company restructured in 2001 and expanded into industrial sensors; the Firstrate brand was established in 2010 for international markets.
Per the company’s published figures: close to 200 employees, more than 10,000 m² of production and office space, annual output of about 500,000 sensors, over 400 product models across nearly 30 industries, exported to more than 100 countries.
Milestones
- 1965 — Hongqi Instrument Factory founded.
- 1980 — Products flown on a Pacific-range launch vehicle; commended by the State Council and the Central Military Commission.
- 2001 — Restructuring; entry into industrial sensors.
- 2010 — Firstrate brand established for international markets.
- 2017 — IoT solution R&D team formed.
- 2019 — Moved into the Changsha smart manufacturing park as a municipal key project.
- 2020 — Borui Cloud Technology, the IoT R&D centre, established.
- 2022 — Certified as a national “little giant” (specialised and sophisticated SME).
- 2023 — Smart city business unit created for urban lifeline monitoring.
- 2025 — Recognised as a Changsha Municipal Enterprise Technology Centre; national “little giant” certification renewed.
Technology and manufacturing
The pressure range is built on MEMS with a glass micro-fusion process: the pressure cavity is machined from a single piece of 17-4PH stainless steel, with no welds and no O-rings, removing a structural leak path. Transmitters carry RF and EMC protection with digital temperature compensation. The company runs an ISO 9001:2015 quality system with a full product test flow, and offers OEM / ODM customisation.
Product range
- Pressure: general purpose, high accuracy, high pressure, intrinsically safe (Ex ia), flameproof, pressure-temperature combined and CAN-bus transmitters, from -1…0 up to 1000 bar.
- Temperature: integrated, isolated, digital display and flameproof transmitters, plus online infrared and laser infrared thermometers.
- Level and flow: submersible, capacitive, ultrasonic and radar level; electromagnetic, vortex and turbine flowmeters.
- Wind: mechanical and ultrasonic wind speed and direction sensors, including heated, anti-icing and sand-proof versions.
- Position and force: magnetostrictive displacement and level sensors; column and spoke load cells.
- IoT terminals: pressure, level, flow, water quality, gas, manhole cover and urban flooding monitoring terminals.
Quality and certification
ISO 9001:2015; products hold CPA, CQC, CE, RoHS, Ex, ATEX and MA certifications; more than 150 invention, utility model and design patents and software copyrights. Certificate numbers, validity and scope for a specific model are available on request.