Manufacturers today are introducing powerful new technologies into operating systems designed for a different era.

Artificial intelligence (AI), advanced automation, digital platforms, and new sustainability requirements are transforming how industrial organizations operate. Meanwhile, supply chains have become more interconnected and less predictable, all while customers expect greater flexibility and responsiveness.

These changes expose a deeper challenge. Transformation isn’t achieved simply by deploying new tools—it requires evolving the operating system (OS) that integrates technology, people, supply chains, and sustainability into how the organization runs every day.

This is the challenge the World Economic Forum’s Lighthouse Operating System initiative was designed to address. Developed through collaboration between leading manufacturers, the initiative aims to define the next generation of industrial operating systems, capable of supporting the priorities shaping modern industry.

As a company that helped shape this work and applies these principles across our own operations, we see the Lighthouse OS as a practical framework for navigating industrial transformation.

Operational excellence was built for a different era

For decades, industrial organizations have relied on operational excellence frameworks to drive efficiency, quality, and continuous improvement. These systems were designed for an environment in which production systems were relatively stable and operational priorities focused on cost, quality, and productivity.

Today, however, the scope of industrial operations has expanded. Organizations must simultaneously manage supply-chain volatility, sustainability requirements, digital transformation, workforce evolution, and changing customer expectations.

This requires an operating system capable of integrating these priorities across the entire organization.

The ambition behind the Lighthouse Operating System is to capture the practices emerging among the most advanced industrial organizations and translate them into a framework others can adopt. It builds on decades of operational excellence while adapting it to the realities of modern industry.

The framework brings together several domains that now define industrial performance:

• Customer responsiveness
• Resilient supply chains
• Workforce engagement
• Sustainability performance
• Digital technology integration

What distinguishes the most advanced industrial organizations

One important point is often misunderstood: companies don’t become “Lighthouse” sites by deploying the Lighthouse Operating System. In practice, the opposite is true.

The most advanced industrial organizations already operate with a system—a clear way to integrate operational excellence, digital innovation, and sustainability into daily operations. The Lighthouse OS initiative helps make those patterns visible and transferable.

The results can be substantial. Across the World Economic Forum’s Global Lighthouse Network, organizations implementing these approaches have reported around 40% increases in labour productivity and nearly 50% reductions in lead times, along with significant improvements in quality, energy efficiency, and emissions performance.

When transformation lacks a system

In many transformation programs, the early stages are promising. Teams identify quick wins, deploy new technologies, and demonstrate initial results.

But without a strong operating system, those successes are difficult to sustain.

Organizations often see the same patterns emerge:

• Initiatives remain local rather than systemic
• Improvements fail to scale across sites or business units
• Digital and sustainability programs evolve separately rather than reinforce one another
• Early wins fade as attention shifts to the next initiative

Over time, momentum fades and transformation stalls. A well-defined operating system can help prevent this outcome.

Learning across an industrial ecosystem

The Lighthouse initiative creates a shared reference for industrial transformation. Instead of every organization attempting to build its own model from scratch, companies can learn from practices that have already been implemented and scaled across complex industrial environments.

Manufacturers can build on a growing body of shared experience drawn from organizations that have been developing and refining advanced operating systems in real-world industrial environments.

Organizations like Schneider Electric^TM—which contributes to the Lighthouse OS initiative while operating several sites recognized in the Global Lighthouse Network—see this as an opportunity to share expertise and continuously improve their own operating systems. We bring perspectives from nine Lighthouse recognitions, from deploying systems across North America, Europe, and Asia, and from the daily work of running plants at scale.

We can provide transformation advice from lived experience and from theory that has been tested and validated.

A long-term operational evolution

The transition toward a more integrated industrial operating system will take time. Like Lean before it, this shift represents a long-term evolution in how organizations think about operations, technology, and improvement.

But the direction is becoming clear: as digital capabilities expand and sustainability expectations rise, manufacturers need systems that bring these priorities together rather than treating them as separate initiatives.

Manufacturers beginning this journey often start with three practical steps:

1. Prioritize transformation domains by identifying where supply chain, sustainability, digital capabilities, and operational performance must evolve together.
2. Break down organizational silos to ensure transformation initiatives reinforce one another rather than compete for attention.
3. Scale proven practices systematically, so early successes become the new operating standard across operations and supply chains.

Looking ahead

The question for manufacturers is whether their operating system is ready for today’s industrial environment. This requires practical insight into how advanced operating systems are built, how they evolve, and how they translate into sustained performance.

At Hannover Messe on April 20, industry leaders will explore these themes further. Come and join us as we draw on the experiences of companies that have been developing and refining their own operating systems for years.