Images: Unsplash +, Getty Images, Adobe Stock The Global Lighthouse Network (GLN) is the leading industry movement celebrating the world’s top-performing production and operations sites. Network members showcase proven performance increases and achieve operational excellence across five categories: productivity, supply chain resilience, sustainability, customer centricity and talent. GLN is a World Economic Forum initiative co-founded with McKinsey & Company and counselled by an advisory board of industry leaders, including Aramco, Foxconn Industrial Internet, Koç Holding, McKinsey & Company, Schneider Electric and Siemens. Contents Foreword Executive summary 1. Celebrating eight years of the Global Lighthouse Network 1.1 Continuous evolution of the Network 1.2 Global expansion of the Network 2. Operational resilience in a new world era 2.1 Building foundations for network agility and scale 2.2 Empowering people to thrive in a digital world 2.3 Scaling-up impact with collaboration and purpose 3. Trends in technology: Lighthouses and the agentic revolution 3.1 Mastering AI adoption: from hype to scalable assets 3.2 Cognitive factories: staying value-backed with human-centric AI 3.3 Cognitive networks: orchestrating value chains with AI 4. Rewiring operations for Lighthouse levels of performance at scale 4.1 Accelerating digital transformations network-wide: core enablers of the Lighthouse blueprint 4.2 Three archetypes of successful scalers: illuminating a way out of the “scaling slump” Conclusion Contributors Endnotes3 4 5 6 8 11 12 19 26 29 29 34 39 42 44 49 52 53 54 Disclaimer This document is published by the World Economic Forum as a contribution to a project, insight area or interaction. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed herein are a result of a collaborative process facilitated and endorsed by the World Economic Forum but whose results do not necessarily represent the views of the World Economic Forum, nor the entirety of its Members, Partners or other stakeholders. © 2026 World Economic Forum. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system. Global Lighthouse Network: Rewiring Operations for Resilience and Impact at Scale 2

Global Lighthouse Network 2026