“Getting CESMII certified gave me a vendor-neutral language I could bring into leadership conversations. It helped me connect what we were building at Kimberly-Clark to a framework executives and plant teams could both trust.”
Suraj Sriram, Digital Manufacturing Leader at Kimberly-Clark and a CESMII Certified Smart Manufacturing Roadmap Professional, documented the full journey in a new whitepaper. He maps Kimberly-Clarks’s approach directly to the CESMII Smart Manufacturing Acceleration Roadmap Framework and draws out a three-pillar methodology other manufacturers can apply.
Abstract
Only 28% of manufacturers are successfully scaling smart factory initiatives across their enterprise, according to the 2026 Manufacturing Leadership Council (MLC) Smart Factories Survey. The majority remain in “pilot purgatory” — a phenomenon documented by McKinsey and the WEF Global Lighthouse Network, which found at least 70% of manufacturers unable to scale digital innovations across their manufacturing networks.
This paper presents a practitioner-authored case study of Kimberly-Clark’s (K-C) Digital Manufacturing Foundations Program, documenting a multi-year journey from a fragmented, legacy-dominated Manufacturing Execution System (MES) landscape to a globally scaled template deployed across 70+ manufacturing sites. The program has achieved hundreds of go-lives, connected a substantial portion of the global manufacturing network, engaged thousands of users across the enterprise, and enabled significant measurable financial value — while setting internal records for deployment speeds.
From this journey, we derive a Three-Pillar Scaling Framework — People, Process, and Data Foundations — validated against the Smart Manufacturing Acceleration Roadmap framework developed by the Collaborative Ecosystems for Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII). The framework identifies the organizational, process, and data-architecture decisions that determine whether a smart manufacturing program scales or stalls and offers a replicable four-step methodology for practitioners seeking enterprise-wide impact.
About CESMII
CESMII – the Smart Manufacturing Institute – has a total current investment commitment of $201M from Department of Energy funding and public/private partnership contributions, with a mandate to create a more competitive manufacturing environment in the US through advanced sensing, analytics, modeling, control, and platforms. CESMII is one of 17 Manufacturing USA institutes on this mission to increase manufacturing productivity, global competitiveness, and reinvestment by increasing energy productivity, improving economic performance and raising workforce capacity. University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) is the program and administrative home of CESMII. For more information about CESMII, its history and Smart Manufacturing, visit cesmii.org.
About Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark (NASDAQ: KMB) and its trusted brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 175 countries and territories. Our portfolio of brands, including Huggies, Kleenex, Scott, Kotex, Cottonelle, Poise, Depend, Andrex, Pull-Ups, Goodnites, Intimus, Plenitud, Sweety, Softex, Viva and WypAll, hold No. 1 or No. 2 share positions in approximately 70 countries. Our company’s purpose is to deliver Better Care for a Better World. We are committed to using sustainable practices designed to support a healthy planet, build strong communities, and enable our business to thrive for decades to come. To keep up with the latest news and learn more about the company’s more than 150-year history of innovation, visit the Kimberly-Clark website.