What is the Lighthouse Factory? You will understand it in seconds after reading this!

In an era of continuous digitalization, lighthouse factories are frequently mentioned as benchmark factories for digital transformation and smart factory construction in the global manufacturing industry. With the successful selection of 11 factories including Qingdao Haier Refrigerator Interconnected Factory, CATL, and Western Digital, the number of lighthouse factories in China has increased to 42. What does a factory have to be called a lighthouse factory? To fully understand lighthouse factories, we must first understand lighthouses.

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You are my beacon of light

In 283 BC, when Egypt was still under the reign of Ptolemy II, Sofitel designed and led the construction of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. The tower was about 130 meters high, but it was destroyed by two earthquakes and now no longer exists. This is also the earliest record of a lighthouse in history.

Ancient lighthouses used fire as a light source, and installed a mirror behind the fire source. The bottom had a power design, which drove the spring to make the mirror rotate at a constant speed, projecting the light source in all directions. Later, the light source also went through the Argonne lamp and the electric light era, and the light source became more stable. The projection device also went through the transformation of mirrors, convex lenses, and Fresnel lenses, making the light projection more focused.

This is the history of lighthouses. As one of the oldest and most important lighting equipment in the ocean, lighthouses are not only used to help ships avoid danger and correct their course, but also have a deeper symbolic meaning, a metaphor for hope and firm belief. When facing difficulties, we all need the power of a lighthouse to guide us forward, overcome numerous difficulties and dangers, and reach the shore of success.

It is this extended meaning of the lighthouse that makes it appear frequently in literary works as a spiritual force, such as: To the Lighthouse by British writer Virginia Woolf, Treasure Island by Scottish novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, and Bell Lighthouse in the Storm painted by British landscape painter William Turner in 1819...

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Applying the lighthouse spirit to smart manufacturing

In 2018, the World Economic Forum and McKinsey jointly launched the "Global Lighthouse Project" to find a model for the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, which is still considered to be the leader of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Since then, "lighthouse" factories representing the digital transformation of the global manufacturing industry and the benchmark for the construction of smart factories have continued to emerge, leading the direction of digital transformation in the manufacturing industry.

Data shows that as of January 2023, there are 132 "lighthouse factories" in the world, including 13 "sustainable lighthouse factories", with a total of 142 use cases deployed. These lighthouse factories use emerging digital technologies to achieve double-digit improvements in business processes, finance, management systems, industrial Internet, sustainability and other indicators. It is reported that China has 42 lighthouse factories, and its total number also ranks first in the world.

At present, the lighthouse factory model has three directions. As one of the important directions, the digital transformation of a single factory mainly focuses on digital assembly, processing, maintenance, performance management, quality management and sustainable development in the factory, and realizes digital and intelligent transformation through the integration of digital technologies such as 5G, AI, and big data with the manufacturing industry.

End-to-end value chain innovation is also one of the directions, which focuses on supply networks, product development, planning, delivery and customer connections. Most of them achieve end-to-end connection between enterprises and user resources and supplier resources by deploying scalable digital platforms. Finally, there is the sustainable development model, which focuses on green and "dual carbon". Through digital transformation, it reduces resource consumption, waste and carbon emissions, implements sustainable development commitments, and improves operational competitiveness.

In my opinion, the Lighthouse Factory is not only a recognition of the leaders, but also a mirror that reflects which production methods can become a new driving force for global economic growth. By using forward-looking thinking to deploy new technologies, we can bring the efficiency of manufacturing to a whole new level.

Source: Pixabay

Lighthouse Factory Leads the Way

Facing the challenges of digitalization, the Lighthouse Factory has continuously promoted lean improvement by changing all links of the manufacturing industry value chain, realizing transparency in factory operations based on equipment data collection and workshop networking, driving business operations and decision-making through data insights, developing smart and connected innovative products, promoting predictive maintenance services, and exploring new business models. It can be said that the Lighthouse Factory has set an example for the transformation and upgrading of manufacturing companies.

Strictly speaking, in the past few years, the world's leading lighthouse factories have left many guiding scale beacons for manufacturing companies on the road of continuous exploration, and also provided valuable experience for the rising stars of smart factories. These lighthouse factories have always been important beacons that guide the direction and illuminate the route. In the process of seeking development, lighthouse factories also face many challenges, but they have achieved success with their innovative spirit and provided rich experience and lessons for later generations.

In the meantime, these non-lighthouse factories can choose to explore their own paths, or they can adopt a more sensible strategy of pursuing lighthouse factories:

First, a clear strategy should be formulated. The experience of lighthouse factories shows that digital transformation must be designed based on customer value and closely aligned with the company's overall business strategy. Second, human resources and other related resources should be invested. Without appropriate resources, transformation will run out of momentum. Finally, a good governance structure should be established. Without effective value assurance, good governance and execution, the company will not be able to achieve the value it seeks or have a substantial impact.

As more and more companies accelerate their digital transformation, China's lighthouse factories are actively sharing new technologies, new models, and new formats accumulated in practice with the global manufacturing industry, providing a practical path for the digital and intelligent transformation of traditional enterprises and helping enterprises achieve the transformation from factories to benchmarks. The experience and achievements accumulated by these lighthouse factories are injecting new impetus into the development of the global manufacturing industry.

Last words

Digital and intelligent technologies represented by 5G, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence are gradually promoting the pace of digital transformation in the manufacturing industry. The intelligent manufacturing model of Industry 4.0 is becoming increasingly prominent, and the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry is just in time. In order to achieve overall digital transformation and intelligent upgrading, China's manufacturing industry needs a large number of supporting industries for equipment, software, system integration, and system upgrades.

In this process, the lighthouse factory has played a leading role in the transition of Chinese manufacturing enterprises from manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing, representing the trend and new standard of the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry. In my opinion, actively learning from the construction experience of the "lighthouse factory" is of great significance to helping my country's manufacturing enterprises to comprehensively transform and upgrade their digitalization. These experiences can not only help enterprises improve production efficiency and reduce costs, but also help enterprises achieve innovative development and enhance market competitiveness.

Source: Chongqing Tianji Network Co., Ltd.

Audit expert: Xiao Leng

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