Schneider Electric supports new open-source blueprint to modernise factories worldwide

Schneider Electric has joined a World Economic Forum advisory board backing a new open-source manufacturing blueprint aimed at helping factories modernise more systematically and at a lower cost.

The framework, known as Lighthouse Operating System, or Lighthouse OS, is intended to distil the methods used by high-performing industrial sites into a staged model that manufacturers of different sizes can adopt. According to the World Economic Forum, the concept was developed throug...

h its Centre for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains with input from original equipment makers, manufacturers and consultancies.

At the heart of the approach are six operating principles: robust and adaptable processes, connected and transparent flows, end-to-end synchronisation, sustainability built into operations, a learning culture and stronger digital and data capability. Those principles are organised across five maturity levels, allowing companies to assess where they stand and decide how quickly they want to scale improvements.

The initiative reflects a broader effort by the forum to make advanced manufacturing practices more portable. In a white paper on responsible transformation, it described Lighthouse OS as a way of turning lessons from the Global Lighthouse Network into a practical roadmap that can be shared more widely across industry.

Schneider Electric said its own operating model, developed over more than two decades, would contribute to the effort. The company’s experience has already been recognised by the World Economic Forum through multiple Lighthouse factory awards, including sites in Lexington, Kentucky, and Wuxi, China.

The move comes as industrial groups seek to balance efficiency, resilience and decarbonisation while coping with volatile supply chains and rising expectations around digitalisation. The forum has also been expanding the Lighthouse programme itself: in January 2026 it announced 23 new sites and launched Lumina, an AI-driven industrial intelligence platform built on years of Lighthouse data and transformation case studies.

For Schneider Electric, the board role further underlines its positioning as both a practitioner and a contributor to wider manufacturing standards. For the World Economic Forum, it offers another step towards turning best-in-class factory methods into something more repeatable, especially for manufacturers that do not have the scale or resources of the biggest global groups.

Source: Noah Wire Services