- The World Economic Forum announces 16 new awards to the Global Lighthouse Network, bringing the community to 238 leading industrial sites worldwide.
- The new cohort highlights three shifts shaping industrial competitiveness: end-to-end intelligence, human-machine collaboration and sustainability as a driver of performance.
- The Forum also launches Impact Stars, a new programme recognizing breakthrough industrial innovations with the potential to transform how industries operate.
- Learn more about the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2026 here. Follow on social media using #amnc26, #2026夏季达沃斯# and #InnovateScaleImpact.
- Learn more about the Global Lighthouse Network here .
Dalian, People's Republic of China, 22 June 2026 - The World Economic Forum today announces 16 new awards as part of the Global Lighthouse Network, bringing the community to 238 sites of the world's most advanced manufacturing and supply chain operations. The sites show how companies are deploying advanced technologies at scale to improve productivity, supply chain resilience, sustainability, customer-centricity and talent.
This latest cohort points to three shifts shaping the future of industrial competitiveness. First, artificial intelligence is moving from isolated pilots to a core operating capability, helping companies improve decision-making, accelerate innovation and continuously optimize performance. Second, leading manufacturers are putting people at the centre of transformation through new skills, redesigned roles and human-machine collaboration. Third, sustainability continues to be embedded in operational strategy, strengthening resilience, reducing costs and supporting long-term competitiveness.
Alongside the new cohort, the Forum will premiere Inside the Factories of the Future , a documentary showcasing how Global Lighthouse Network sites are using advanced technologies, workforce innovation and sustainable practices to transform industrial operations.
"The world's leading manufacturers are no longer optimizing individual processes; they are reimagining entire operating systems," said Kiva Allgood, Managing Director, World Economic Forum. "The newest Lighthouse sites show how intelligence is becoming embedded into the fabric of operations, enabling organizations to respond faster, learn continuously and unlock new levels of performance across their value chains."
The latest cohort includes sites in China, India, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States, representing a diverse range of industries, operating environments and transformation priorities. Their experiences reinforce findings from Lumina , the Forum's industrial transformation intelligence platform built on Global Lighthouse Network data, showing that organizations achieve the greatest impact when technological innovation is combined with strong operational fundamentals, workforce engagement and clear strategic objectives.
"Lighthouse organizations have learned that deploying technology is only the starting point. Real transformation occurs when value is quantified, continuously tracked, and scaled across sites and business functions. The true winners are not those that pilot the most technologies, but those that successfully scale their highest-value innovations across the enterprise, converting isolated successes into sustained business value," said Meshal Almashari, Executive Managing Director, Aramco Ventures.
The Forum also announced Impact Stars , a new programme to identify emerging industrial innovations before they become mainstream. Complementing the large-scale view of the Global Lighthouse Network, Impact Stars will recognize breakthrough solutions with the potential to reshape operations, business models and workforce roles across industry. Applications open on 15 July, with submissions assessed on novelty, scalability, operational proof and responsible impact on people and the planet.
The latest Lighthouse cohort showcases a diverse set of transformation journeys, each reflecting different approaches to achieving operational excellence through advanced technologies. The following examples highlight how organizations across industries and geographies are translating innovation into measurable gains.
The New Lighthouse Cohort
Distinction in Customer Centricity
This award recognizes operational sites for achieving exceptional speed-to-market and customization through technology-enabled design and procurement, optimization of batch size, lead time, product cost and performance.
The new Lighthouses are:
Merck (Fenil-sur-Corsier, Switzerland)
To improve productivity, reduce cost of goods and increase manufacturing flexibility, the Biotech Development Center shifted biologics production from batch to continuous processing, reimagining both process development and GMP clinical manufacturing. Designed to accelerate the availability of new medicines to patients, this digitally-enabled facility cut speed to patient by 50% and increased labour productivity in the laboratory by 67% through advanced automation, robotics and modular environments enabling scientists to spend more time on high-value-add tasks. The continuous platform reduces capital expenditure need for a new commercial plant by 80%, establishing a scalable foundation for next-generation biologics production.
NIO (Hefei, China)
Intensifying competition in the electric vehicle sector demands faster product development, customization and integration across R&D, manufacturing and quality functions. The Hefei site created a real-time closed-loop system connecting in-vehicle AI, battery swap networks and a digital twin platform capable of managing more than 3.6 million vehicle configurations. The transformation accelerated speed-to-market by 44% and automated 90% of R&D workflows.
Royal Canin (Shanghai, China)
Growing demand for personalized, nutrition-based pet care required the site to deliver more than 400 SKUs while maintaining quality and agility. By deploying over 40 advanced solutions, including GenAI and advanced analytics, across agricultural sourcing, production and after-sales care, the site improved customer satisfaction by 20%, reduced in-line defects by 70% and maintained service levels above 98%.
Schneider Electric (El Paso, United States)
Rapid growth in data centre demand significantly increased complexity across the site's engineer-to-order value chain, creating production, testing and logistics bottlenecks. By leveraging data engineering, integrated logistics, industrial IoT and advanced AI solutions, the site increased on-time delivery from 61% to 97%, reduced lead times by up to 35%, eliminated $43 million in backorders.
Distinction in Productivity
This award recognizes operational sites for achieving exceptional performance in cost and quality through technology-enabled transformation, improving asset utilization, worker enablement and resource management.
The new Lighthouses are:
China Merchants Heavy Industry (Haimen, China)
Driven by growing demand for LNG carriers and other green vessels, the shipyard faced increasing complexity, fragmented planning and long delivery cycles. By deploying more than 25 digital solutions, including AI-driven planning, digital twin assembly and just-in-time logistics, the site integrated planning and execution end-to-end. Throughput increased 2.6-fold, dock time fell by 52% and first-pass assembly yield improved by 25%.
CIMC Reefer Containers (Jiaozhou, China)
Increasing volatility in global trade and expectations for thermal insulation and product ruggedness challenged traditional manufacturing of reefer containers for global cold chain logistics. By deploying more than 50 digital applications and AI-enabled solutions to optimize resource allocation and production processes, the site improved manufacturing lead times by 32%, reduced defects by 47% and lowered conversion costs by 24%.
DCM Shriram (Gujarat, India)
As India's largest single-site caustic soda producer with limited downstream integration, the site faced mounting margin pressure in an energy-intensive industry where power accounts for most operating costs. The site deployed 45 advanced solutions, including AI-enabled process control and GenAI-enabled maintenance manager. The transformation delivered an 11 percentage-point EBITDA improvement, reduced power costs by 32%, lowered material costs by 15% and cut CO₂ emissions by 14%.
Hitachi Group, Hitachi Vantara Manufacturing (Norman, United States)
As demand for AI-driven infrastructure accelerated, the Norman site shifted its business toward highly customized storage solutions. Increasing product complexity, fragmented data and concentrated quarter-end demand exposed productivity constraints and slowed revenue conversion. By integrating inventory visibility and decision-making into a global digital platform and deploying AI-enabled configuration automation, the site reduced inventory by 50%, shortened order-to-ship lead times by 77% and advanced a proactive end-to-end orchestration model to improve delivery performance and responsiveness.
Rockwell Automation (Singapore)
Operating a high-mix, low-volume environment with more than 1,000 SKUs and over 20,000 annual changeovers, the site faced challenges in flexibility, quality consistency and dependence on tacit worker knowledge. By deploying more than 50 digital and AI solutions, including flexible automation, AI-enabled quality control and intelligent maintenance, the site increased units per person-hour by 43%, reduced defects by 35% and shortened time-to-competency by 67%.
Taiji Group Chongqing Fuling Pharmaceutical, SINOPHARM (Chongqing, China)
Traditional Chinese medicine production has historically relied on manual expertise and qualitative process controls, making it difficult to ensure consistent quality while balancing mass production, small-batch orders and customized demand. The site deployed more than 30 advanced solutions, including digital frying standards and advanced quality-marker analytics, to optimize production. The transformation reduced batch-to-batch quality variation by 33%, increased OEE by 13%, lowered production costs by 10% and captured critical tacit knowledge digitally.
Distinction in Supply Chain Resilience
This award recognizes operational sites for achieving exceptional performance in service and agility through supply-chain transformation (planning, fulfilment, logistics, etc.), enhancing transparency and working capital management.
The new Lighthouses are:
Unilever (Haridwar, India)
Originally designed for large-scale production, the site faced growing complexity from a 50% increase in SKUs and a fourfold rise in demand volatility driven by e-commerce and smaller order sizes. By implementing an end-to-end Fourth Industrial Revolution ecosystem, including AI-enabled planning, sourcing and magnetic levitation manufacturing technologies, the site reduced response times by 72%, accelerated changeovers by 40%, reduced minimum order quantities by 40% and improved service levels to 99%.
RRS Qingdao Smart Logistics Park (Qingdao, China)
As time-to-delivery competition in bulky-goods logistics intensified and hybrid B2B/B2C demand surged, traditional fulfilment models struggled to keep pace. The Qingdao site developed an AI-enabled platform that uses intelligent decision-making across order fulfilment, warehouse operations, vehicle scheduling and carrier bidding to dynamically optimize logistics flows. This transformation increased response time by 48%, improved inventory turnover by 40% and reduced transportation costs by 23%.
Distinction in Sustainability
This award recognizes operational sites for achieving industry-leading reductions in energy, emissions, water and waste through advanced solutions in pursuit of a holistic set of net-zero, decarbonization and circularity goals.
The new Lighthouses are:
Unilever (Sonepat, India)
Located in a region facing severe groundwater depletion and carbon-intensive energy use, the site confronted growing risks to long-term operational continuity. By deploying AI-enabled solutions across regenerative sourcing, water management and energy systems, the site reduced scope 1 and 2 emissions by 99%, improved energy efficiency by 29%, contributed to a 37% reduction in upstream transportation and distribution scope 3 emissions across the Hindustan Unilever Foods portfolio, and achieved 100 times groundwater recharge while supporting 35% production growth.
Schneider Electric (Beijing, China)
As the site experienced 30% business growth, increased insourcing and stricter sustainability requirements, it faced the challenge of reducing emissions across its value chain while supporting continued expansion. By deploying more than 50 advanced cases, including SF₆-free product design, supplier decarbonization programmes, energy optimization and SF₆ circularity initiatives, the site reduced Scope 1 emissions by 65%, eliminated Scope 2 emissions and reduced Scope 3 emissions by 43%, while improving energy efficiency by 36%.
Distinction in Talent
This award recognizes operational sites for achieving transformative impact on the workforce through advanced solutions in work design and safety, talent planning, attraction and onboarding, development and effectiveness.
The new Lighthouses are:
Fujian Ningde Nuclear Power (Fuding, China)
To address the dual challenge of improving safety and operational efficiency in nuclear power generation, the site built advanced digital capabilities across its workforce. By scaling 45 advanced use cases across talent development, deployment and human-error prevention, the site increased digital talent more than tenfold, reduced human error by 71% and increased profit per employee by 50%.
About the Global Lighthouse Network
The Global Lighthouse Network is a World Economic Forum initiative recognizing best-in-class operational sites and value chains that have achieved exceptional performance in productivity, supply chain resilience, customer centricity, sustainability and talent. The initiative is counseled by an advisory board of industry leaders who are working together to shape the future of global manufacturing. The advisory board includes Aramco, Foxconn Industrial Internet, Koç Holding, McKinsey & Company, Schneider Electric, Siemens, and Tata Steel. Sites and value chains that join the network are designated by an independent panel of experts. The next round of applications to join the Global Lighthouse Network will close on 5 July 2026.
About the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2026
The 17th Annual Meeting of the New Champions will take place from 23 to 25 June 2026 in Dalian, People's Republic of China, under the theme "Innovating at Scale". The meeting will bring together over 1,700 participants cross-sector leaders to explore how innovation and emerging technologies can unlock new growth models and drive positive economic momentum in a fast-shifting global landscape.
