Global Lighthouse Network: Transforming advanced manufacturing
The World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network is a platform to develop, replicate and scale innovations in manufacturing, creating opportunities for cross-company learning and collaboration.
18 new manufacturers joined the network in 2023.
A total of 132 factories are now engaged in the network, implementing advanced manufacturing technologies and boosting productivity, sustainability and resilient supply chains.
The impact of scaling advanced manufacturing technologies.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network is a community of leading manufacturers applying advanced technologies to speed up and spread the adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies to their industries worldwide.
Each chosen ‘lighthouse’ represents an industrial site that uniquely integrates new technologies, from artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to cloud computing and big data. In doing so, all of them show others how to increase productivity, engage workforces, reduce environmental footprint an
d build supply chain resilience. 18 new manufacturers joined as lighthouses in 2023, bringing the total to 132 factories that are part of the Global Lighthouses Network.
A consumer healthcare company from the network coupled advanced controls with green technology to deploy a sensor-fed automated system to cut energy consumption. This innovation resulted in a 25% reduction in energy consumption and an 18% reduction in CO2.
Facing growing demand for customized design, fast delivery and high quality, a home appliance company leveraged big data to accelerate research and development and deployed advanced visual inspection technology to improve the manufacturing process. This allowed the company to increase production efficiency by 35% and quality performance by 36%.
advanced manufacturing technologies: Impact across operational performance indicators and environmental sustainability
Impact across operational performance indicators and environmental sustainability
Image: World Economic Forum
What’s the chal
lenge to the widespread adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies?
The global manufacturing industry has been lagging in the adoption of advanced technologies. More than 70% of companies investing in advanced analytics, AI, or 3D printing fail to move beyond the pilot phase of development. Most companies struggle to scale up when upgrading technology given the costs and anticipated return on investment.
Despite recent industry innovations, only a select group of leading organizations can deploy advanced manufacturing at scale, generating new value and customer experiences within the factory or across value chains.
To close this gap and accelerate an inclusive adoption of advanced technologies in manufacturing, the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains identified the need for a learning network to showcase best practices to benefit companies around the world.
“By integrating Fourth Industrial Revolution technology, lighthouses demonstrate how to scale advanced tec
hnology across entire manufacturing networks, going beyond suppliers and customers to include procurement, logistics, research and development.”
– Francisco Betti, Head of Global Industries, World Economic Forum
Our approach to driving innovation and scaling advanced manufacturing technologies.
The Global Lighthouse Network is a platform to develop, replicate and scale innovations, creating opportunities for cross-company learning and collaboration, while setting new benchmarks for the global manufacturing community.
Launched in 2018, the network has steadily grown over the years. Its initial guidance on successful deployment of cutting-edge technologies at scale provided tools to escape the ‘pilot purgatory’ challenge.
Further findings include examples from lighthouses driving digital transformation while also supporting sustainability and reskilling efforts. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, insights revealed four durable shifts in manufacturing towards:
Agility and customer centricity
Supply chain re
silience
Speed and productivity
Eco-efficiency
Today, 132 lighthouses span almost 100 regions and a diverse range of industries, including healthcare, electronics, pharmaceuticals and automotive.
The following companies have one or ore more industrial sites that are part of the Network: AGCO, Agilent, Alibaba, Arçelik, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, AU Optronics, Baosteel, Bayer, BMW, BOE Technology, CEAT, Cipla, CITIC Dicastal, Contemporary Amperex Technology, Cummins, Danfoss, Danone, DCP Midstream, De’ Longhi, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Ericsson, Fast Radius, Flex, Ford Otosan, Foxconn Industrial Internet, GE Healthcare, Groupe Renault, GSK, Haier, Henkel, Hitachi, HP, Huayi New Material, Infineon, Innolux, Johnson and Johnson, Lenovo, LG Electronics, LS ELECTRIC, MantaMESH, Micron, Midea, MODEC, Mondelez, Nokia, Novo Nordisk, Petkim, Petrosea, Phoenix Contact, POSCO, Procter and Gamble, Protolabs, Robert Bosch, ReNew Power, Rold, SAIC Maxus, Sandvik Coromant, Sanofi, SANY Group, Saudi Aramco, Schn
eider Electric, Siemens, STAR Refinery, Tata Steel, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, The Coca-Cola Company, Tsingtao Brewery, Unilever, Weichai, Western Digital, Wistron, Zymergen.
The initiative has collected over the years more than 700 technology use cases, supported by an equivalent number of best practices and enablers. Most of these learnings are summarized in the Playbook for Responsible Industry Transformation, which includes tangible learning points that will inspire other organizations striving to create impact.
Recognizing factories leading by example in their commitment to environmental sustainability, a few of these lighthouses have earned the extra distinction as Sustainability Lighthouses, for outstanding reductions in their environmental footprint:
Arçelik, Ulmi, Romania
Ericsson, Lewisville, USA
Flex, Sorocaba, Brazil
Haier, Tianjin, China
Henkel, Dsseldorf, Germany
Johnson and Johnson Janssen, Cork, Ireland
Micron, Singapore
Schneider Electric, Le Vaudreuil, France
Schneider Electr
ic, Lexington, USA
Siemens, Amberg, Germany
Unilever, Dapada, India
Western Digital, Shanghai, China
Western Digital, Penang, Malaysia
advanced manufacturing technologies
Lighthouses announced in 2022 and 2023
Image: World Economic Forum
How can you get involved?
The goal of the Global Lighthouse Network is to share and learn from best practices, support new partnerships and help other manufacturers to deploy advanced technology, adopt sustainable solutions, and transform their workforces at pace and scale.
The Global Lighthouse Network is an initiative of the Forum’s Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains, supported by an advisory board of industry leaders who are working together to shape the future of global manufacturing. Factories and value chains that join the network are designated by an independent panel of experts. To learn about the application process and how to become a lighthouse, contact us.
Source: World Economic Forum