Schneider Electric is strengthening its collaboration with the World Economic Forum as part of a growing coalition of manufacturers, consultants, and technology partners working to accelerate industrial digital transformation globally. Together, the partners are advancing the Lighthouse Operating System (Lighthouse OS), a framework based on proven and replicable methodologies aimed at helping manufacturers modernize at scale.
According to the announcement, while many manufacturers have invested in digital transformation initiatives, scaling these efforts across operations remains a challenge. Pilot projects often succeed but fail to expand beyond localized implementation, resulting in a widening gap between the world’s most advanced factories and the broader manufacturing industry.
The newly launched framework is intended to help address these challenges by supporting manufacturers in scaling digital transformation more effectively across their operations.
The Lighthouse Operating System (Lighthouse OS) is an open-source, practical blueprint that translates the proven practices of the world’s highest-performing industrial sites into a structured path any manufacturer can follow. Leveraging eight years of Global Lighthouse Network insights, Lighthouse OS was developed by the World Economic Forum’s Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains in collaboration with leading OEMs, end users and consultancies, it gives companies a clear, self-guided route from where they are today to genuine operational excellence, without needing to start from scratch or bring in teams of specialists.
A blueprint grounded in real-world practice
The Lighthouse OS is built around six core operating principles — adaptable and robust processes, connected and transparent flows, end-to-end synchronisation, embedded sustainability, a learning organisation, and accelerated digital and data capability — structured across five levels of operational maturity. Companies can assess their current position, identify where to focus first, and scale at their own pace.
Unlike standalone digital tools, it is designed as a system-wide approach: connecting digital innovation, sustainability, workforce development, and operational excellence into a single, coherent model that delivers measurable and repeatable performance gains.
Schneider Electric: experience built in, not bolted on
Schneider Electric brings direct transformation experience to the initiative. The company has spent more than two decades refining an operating system that today underpins its Gartner # supply chain ranking and nine WEF Lighthouse factories recognitions. That foundation — built on advanced digital systems, AI-driven automation, and sustainability-by-design practices — is what the Lighthouse OS framework is built from.
Federico Torti, Head, Technology & Innovation, World Economic Forum, said: “Many manufacturers have the ambition to transform but lack a coherent path to do it consistently and at scale. The Lighthouse OS addresses that directly; it takes what the world’s best factories have learned through years of real operational experience and turns it into a practical framework any manufacturer can apply. This is about making Lighthouse-level performance a realistic target for the whole industry, not just its most advanced players.”
Cecile Vercellino, SVP Services, Industrial Automation at Schneider Electric, commented: “Schneider Electric has lived this transformation across 120+ smart factories & distribution centers — we know what works, where companies get stuck, and what it takes to move from isolated pilots to genuine system-wide change. That direct experience is embedded in the Lighthouse OS. Our organization is already applying these principles across our broader ecosystem and seeing measurable results.”
An open initiative, built to grow
The Lighthouse OS is designed to evolve. As global pilots progress and community feedback shapes subsequent iterations, the initiative is actively inviting manufacturers, technology providers, and public-sector partners to contribute.
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