Putting Talent at the Centre An Evolving Imperative for Manufacturing 2025

Executive summary While there has long existed an imperative to keep people at the centre of production, that imperative has and continues to evolve as industry undergoes fundamental transformations. A new age of intelligent operations has emerged – and while it requires new skills, it also creates new opportunities for frontline workers. A conscious approach to investing in talent is the missing ingredient that will allow companies to meet these challenges and opportunities. The Global Lighthouse Network, a World Economic Forum initiative, co-founded in 2018 with McKinsey & Company, and counselled by an advisory board of industry leaders, has demonstrated technology’s transformative potential in manufacturing. Yet human workers remain central to production, and industries worldwide face an urgent need to transform frontline work amid mounting productivity and stability challenges. The Frontline Talent of the Future Initiative addresses this challenge by identifying global success stories and creating an actionable playbook for talent strategy. The initiative launched a pilot with 10 companies and at 13 sites across the globe to identify leading talent innovations. Initial results demonstrate positive impact: pilot participants achieved, on average, 52% improvement in stability metrics, 34% improvement in financial metrics, and 28% improvement in productivity and operational health and safety metrics. Meeting the imperative to keep people at the centre of manufacturing has always been difficult, but dual factors have compounded the challenge: productivity growth has declined to just 1% in advanced economies from 2016-2022, while 71% of US manufacturers struggle with workforce stability. Five root causes drive this instability: talent shortages, widening skill gaps, evolving worker needs, struggling supervisors, and insufficient rewards, recognition and incentives. Leading organizations are pioneering a fundamental shift: viewing frontline talent not as a cost, but as an investment comparable to capital. Research shows that companies typically spend three times more on talent than capital equipment, but they lack the same rigorous investment approach for talent – particularly at the frontline level. Success requires locally tailored strategies and investment in six core capabilities beyond compensation: work design and safety, talent planning, attraction and onboarding, talent development, talent effectiveness, and culture and experience. Research conducted for this paper found that leaders take three critical steps: 1) they set aspirational strategies after understanding the problem, 2) they invest in talent innovations, and 3) they build the holistic workforce operating model at the corporate and site level to drive and sustain impact. While even leading companies have only begun to tap the full potential of talent innovation, they distinguish themselves by connecting innovations directly to measurable impact. In 2025, the Global Lighthouse Network will deepen its focus on talent by including additional talent-related innovations and solutions in its framework. This means sites can apply for a lighthouse award to be recognized for achieving world-class performance with distinction in talent transformation. These organizations will help shape a future where frontline talent development drives sustainable industrial growth.People, rather than technology, remain the true heart of industry. Putting Talent at the Centre: An Evolving Imperative for Manufacturing 4