- World Economic Forum welcomes 12 new members of the Global Lighthouse Network, a community of now 201 leading industry sites pioneering cutting-edge technologies in manufacturing.
- Two sites receive designations for achieving step-change impact in Customer Centricity, four for Productivity, four for Supply-Chain Resilience, two for Sustainability and one for Talent.
- The latest cohort spans seven countries, with six Lighthouse sites in China, and one each in Mexico, Singapore, Thailand, Türkiye, Qatar and France.
- Learn more about the Global Lighthouse Network here and read its latest report here . Follow the Sustainable Development Impact Meetings 2025 here and on social media using #SDIM25.
Geneva, Switzerland, 16 September 2025 - The World Economic Forum welcomes today 12 new innovative industrial sites to the Global Lighthouse Network, bringing the total to 201 leading production facilities and value chains. These sites leverage digital technologies at scale to deliver outstanding results in productivity, supply-chain resilience, talent, sustainability and customer centricity.
In the latest cohort of Lighthouses, three key trends are shaping operational excellence. Sites are harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced analytics to drive collaborative, decision-focused innovation. Hyper-connected organizations are extending impact beyond individual sites to entire supply chains. Finally, talent development, combined with network-wide sustainability initiatives, is driving the next frontier of performance. With locations in China, Mexico, France, Thailand, Türkiye, Qatar and Singapore, these Lighthouses reflect a diverse global presence and will harness the Global Lighthouse Network to exchange best practices and accelerate progress across industries and regions.
"The organizations that will shape the future are those driving holistic transformation today, embedding digital innovation, resilience, sustainability, talent development and customer centricity into everything they do," said Kiva Allgood, Managing Director and Head of the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains, World Economic Forum. "Congratulations to the new Lighthouse cohort that demonstrates how forward-thinking companies across industries and segments are putting this vision into action, setting a new global standard for operational excellence and impact."
This latest wave of Lighthouses has demonstrated, on average, a 40% labour productivity increase and a reduced lead time of 48%. Compared to previous years, the share of AI and generative AI (genAI) enabled use cases has grown, enabling up to 50% of the implemented top use cases. These showed diverse impact such as a 41% decrease in product defects, 28% decrease in energy consumption and 44% decrease in cycle time.
"Global supply chains - once optimized for cost and scale - are now redefined by proximity, risk, and resilience," said Cedrik Neike, Chief Executive Officer, Digital Industries, Siemens and GLN Ambassador. "The Global Lighthouse Network illustrates how manufacturers can turn necessity into virtue in a glocalized world. By focusing on technology, sustainability, and an empowered workforce, the new Lighthouses demonstrate that transformation delivers flexibility and a competitive edge."
Distinction in Customer Centricity:
Recognizes production 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 Customer Centricity Lighthouses are:
1. Eaton Electrical Equipment Co., Ltd. (Changzhou, China): Managing a complex portfolio of 164,000 stock-keeping units (SKUs) and over 5,000 new custom designs annually, Eaton's Changzhou site deployed digital transformation to improve agility and cost-effectiveness. By applying AI and simulation, Eaton shortened its design cycle. Adopting advanced robotics improved labour productivity and genAI and digital twin solutions enhanced responsiveness. As a result, the company reduced lead time by 39%, increased operational efficiency by 50% and grew revenue by 129%, all without expanding its workforce.
2. Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (Changzhou, China): In response to shifting customer demand towards tailored solutions and a fragmented market landscape, and with 34.8% of orders being single-item orders, the Mettler Toledo site in Changzhou embarked on a digital transformation. The site deployed 49 Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) use cases, including AI-accelerated product configuration, reconfigurable modular cluster workstations, and machine learning powered welding inspection with closed-loop adjustments to preserve quality. These solutions helped the site achieve a 98.4% on-time delivery rate, a 22% lead time reduction and a net promoter score of 84.9.
Distinction in Productivity
Recognizes production sites for achieving exceptional performance in cost and quality through technology-enabled transformation, improving asset utilization, worker enablement and resource management. The new Productivity Lighthouses are:
1. GlobalFoundries Pte. Ltd. (Singapore): To address talent shortages and surging demand, including for new automotive devices, GlobalFoundries' Fab 7 in Singapore implemented over 60 4IR use cases to tackle increasing process complexity, meet more stringent quality requirements and accelerate prototype development. The site built a holistic transformation team, partnering with AI vendors and universities across four impact areas: machine learning-based predictive maintenance; remote support enablement; machine learning-powered quality control; and workflow digitalization. As a result, labour productivity improved by 40% and new product introduction prototyping time improved by 30%.
2. Haier Washing Electrical Appliances Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China): To meet high-end market demands while addressing regional cost pressures and quality expectations, Haier launched its Shanghai site as a new production base in 2022. Using its in-house industrial IoT (internet of things) platform and advanced technologies such as genAI-enabled 3D modelling and deep learning, the site increased production by 37%, improved delivery efficiency by 40% and cut conversion costs by 33%.
3. Qatar Shell GTL Limited (Ras Laffan, Qatar): As operator of Pearl Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) for and on behalf of the Government of Qatar, the world's largest GTL plant, built to produce 260k barrels per day of liquid hydrocarbons from natural gas, Qatar Shell GTL Limited tackled early-stage asset integrity and reliability challenges. By deploying over 45 4IR solutions, including AI for structural integrity, and empowering frontline teams, it was able to increase the site throughput by 9%, improve reliability to 99%, cut emissions by 7% and extend equipment life by up to 50% within a five-year period.
4. Tongwei Solar Co., Ltd. (Meishan, China): In the highly competitive solar cell market, Tongwei focused its digital transformation on improving power conversion efficiency (PCE) and quality. The site deployed over 50 4IR use cases, mostly based on AI - machine learning to drive process optimization, genAI-enabled maintenance, and advanced AI algorithms to analyse defects. The transformation improved PCE by 12%, cut defect rates by 41%, reduced conversion costs by 37% and lowered CO₂ emissions by 33%.
Distinction in Supply Chain Resilience
Recognizes production 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 Supply-Chain Resilience Lighthouses are:
1. Lenovo Centro Tecnologico, S.DE R.L. DE C.V. (Monterrey, Mexico): As Lenovo's largest site in North America, the Lenovo Monterrey site regularly managed 2,000 overseas suppliers and 52,000 SKUs across 80+ markets, alongside increasing emphasis on quality and evolving labour dynamics in Mexico. By deploying more than 60 4IR solutions, over half of them AI and genAI-enabled, the site reduced lead time by 85%, logistics costs by 42%, quality losses by 56% and carbon emissions by 30%, while boosting productivity by 58%. Today, the site serves as a global digital model factory for Lenovo.
2. Midea Refrigeration Equipment Co., Ltd. (Si Racha, Thailand): To address complex cross-border supply chains, customer quality issues and training barriers, Midea implemented 72 digital and AI solutions. These included closed-loop quality systems and genAI-enabled workforce development. The result was a 43% reduction in order lead times, a 32% drop in customer complaints and a 62% improvement in employee qualification speed.
3. Turkish Petroleum Refineries Corporation - Tüpraş (İzmit, Türkiye): Following the launch of its Resid Upgrade Plant in 2014, Tüpraş İzmit faced rising crude oil type diversity, product complexity and pressure from port-based sales that increased jetty congestion. In response, the refinery launched a digital transformation, integrating planning, inventory and logistics across the value chain. By deploying AI-driven forecasting and optimization solutions, the site improved delivery reliability from 85% to 95%, shortened average truck loading times by 75%, increased forecasting labour productivity by 48%, reduced CO₂ emissions by 8% and water consumption by 31%.
4. Yunnan Baiyao Group Co., Ltd. (Kunming, China): To meet fast-changing consumer demands and manage the volatility of e-commerce and lower-tier market expansion, Yunnan Baiyao addressed inconsistent quality in key herbal ingredients and scattered planting areas. Deploying over 40 4IR solutions, including satellite sensing, industrial internet of things and large language models, the company reduced raw material return rates by 78%, inventory days by 38% and stockout rates by 30%, ensuring more stable and responsive supply.
Distinction in Sustainability
Recognizes production 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 Sustainability Lighthouses are:
1. Hisensehitachi Air-conditioning Systems Co., Ltd. (Qingdao, China): To advance its sustainability targets, Hisensehitachi deployed 27 4IR solutions at its Qingdao site to reduce emissions across the entire product lifecycle - from in-house refrigerant leakage (96% of Scope 1) and R&D operations (46% of Scope 2) to material sourcing and customer site usage (over 90% of Scope 3). Using IoT and advanced analytics, the team reduced refrigerant leakage by 56% and redesigned key processes, cutting Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 48%. Tailored control strategies for environmental parameters at customer sites led to a 28% reduction in Scope 3 emissions from product use.
2. Schneider Electric Distribution Center (Evreux, France): To address resource scarcity, regulations and customer demands, Schneider Electric transformed its Evreux site into its first circular distribution centre. It implemented an end-to-end "use better, longer, and again" model that enables circularity at scale. Key innovations include a digital customer platform for ordering and take-back of over 3,000 SKUs, a data model linking products to repair, refurbishment and repackaging centres, and circular solutions in packaging, transportation and energy. These efforts reduced single-use plastic by 40% and energy consumption by 18%.
Distinction in Talent
Recognizes production 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 Talent Lighthouse is:
1. Haier Refrigerator Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Chongqing, China): Facing high mobility and productivity improvement bottlenecks in the younger generation of workers, Haier Chongqing adopted the proprietary RenDanHeYi model, shifting from a management-oriented to a service-oriented organization. The site deployed 35 4IR talent-empowerment solutions, including personalized promotion pathways, a point-based innovation incentive platform, and team-level smart workforce planning using multi-time-series forecasting. These efforts reduced attrition by 40% and raised participation to 61%.
This announcement will be accompanied by the forthcoming World Economic Forum insights paper, Empowering Frontlines: Retaining, Training, and Upskilling Industrial Workforce, which highlights how Lighthouse sites are pioneering new approaches to retaining, upskilling and reskilling talent. The publication is part of the Forum's Frontline Talent of the Future initiative , which surfaces proven strategies from leading sites to help organizations attract, develop and engage their frontline workforce to build human-centric, high-performing operations for the factories and supply chains of the future.
About the Global Lighthouse Network
Launched in 2018, the Global Lighthouse Network brings together and celebrates the success of the world's leading industrial sites that have achieved exceptional performance in productivity, supply chain resilience, customer centricity, sustainability and talent. This global community of influential innovators, deploying over 1,000 solutions in multiple industries, includes 201 sites. The network now spans over 30 countries and 35 sectors.
The Global Lighthouse Network is a World Economic Forum initiative. The initiative was co-founded with McKinsey & Company and is counselled by an advisory board of industry leaders working together to shape the future of global manufacturing. The Advisory Board includes Foxconn Industrial Internet, Koç Holding, McKinsey & Company, Schneider Electric and Siemens. 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 open in December.
About the Sustainable Development Impact Meetings 2025
The Sustainable Development Impact Meetings 2025 will take place from 22 to 26 September in New York, bringing together around 1,000 global leaders from diverse sectors and geographies. Held ahead of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026, these meetings are part of the Forum's year-round work to accelerate progress on sustainable development through multistakeholder dialogues and action.
