Executive summary This white paper celebrates six years of the Global Lighthouse Network as the leading learning community for world-class operational excellence in production at scale. The Global Lighthouse Network (GLN) recognizes leaders in the production ecosystem that have achieved exceptional impact on productivity and sustainability, enabled by digital transformation. After six years, the GLN has expanded from 16 to 189 Lighthouses, representing factory, sustainability and end-to-end value chain categories across 33 countries and 35 subsectors – four times greater than in 2018. This diversity is what powers the GLN – a network of peers that share knowledge and insights to accelerate their transformation journeys. Among new Lighthouses, 65% cited learning from at least three other Lighthouse sites – often outside their own sector – and two other ecosystem partners during their transformation. These 189 Lighthouses, 1,000+ use cases and 2,000+ metrics prove the Lighthouse transformation playbook. Those who follow it have moved beyond the “pilot purgatory” that early Lighthouses faced – where pilot schemes struggled to reach full scale – to achieve ROI of 2-3x over three years and 4-5x over five years. The latest 36 Lighthouses have not only followed the playbook but are continuing to innovate. They illuminate three leading-edge lessons: –They are tackling the digital “scaling slump” with a mindset to assetize1 use cases as enterprise capabilities, while partnering with their frontline workforces to localize adoption. –They are investing in their frontline workforce, focusing on productivity and stability in equal parts. Lighthouses design a range of talent solutions specifically tailored to develop and engage each site’s local workforce. –They are progressing towards end-to-end sustainability, building on top of the tech- enabled eco-efficiency solutions pioneered by early Lighthouses with investments in value chain data and new partnership models, which will underpin circularity in the future.Amidst the recent AI hype, Lighthouses have cracked the code on site implementation: 77% of the top five use cases of this year’s Lighthouses were enabled by analytical AI and 9% leverage generative AI (GenAI). All have unlocked step- changes in performance – averaging improvements of more than 50% in conversion cost, cycle times and defect rates. How have Lighthouses found impact where others are still exploring potential? The differentiator is their approach to large language models (LLMs) and other new technologies, which remains consistent with the playbook proven through adoption of earlier technology, such as the industrial internet of things (IIoT). They stay laser-focused on a “value- back” approach to reduce process debt; invest in foundational capabilities across people, process and technology; assetize solutions for scale; and partner with frontlines to localize engagement and adoption. Chapter 2 explores these mindset shifts in detail. Beyond productivity, Lighthouses also deploy technology across their value chains to drive agility, resilience and sustainability. Data platforms that connect customer, supplier, process, product, market and sustainability data bring visibility and intelligence to the many intricate decisions required to optimize value chain performance. These approaches include: –Intelligent product introduction tool suites with capabilities for one-click product design, process simulations, pricing and bid preparation. –Integrated resilience hubs that manage numerous spokes with ensembles of AI models for forecasting demand and disruption, simulating processes, optimizing planning, orchestrating logistics and more. –Technology- and partnership-enabled circularity solutions to drive lifecycle emissions reduction, with a particular focus on scope 3. Global Lighthouse Network: The Mindset Shifts Driving Impact and Scale in Digital TransformationJanuary 2025 Global Lighthouse Network: The Mindset Shifts Driving Impact and Scale in Digital Transformation 3

Global Lighthouse Network 2025