Smart Manufacturing Mindset™

World Economic Forum Lighthouses —

Lessons from the Leaders

In this Smart Manufacturing Mindset episode, CESMII sits down with leaders from World Economic Forum Lighthouse factories from Foxconn Industrial Internet, Johnson & Johnson, Schneider Electric, Unilever and Western Digital. Together, they explore the cultural mindset, leadership alignment, and change management that power digital transformation at scale.

From benchmarking and business-driven roadmaps to empowering workers and standardizing frameworks, these global manufacturers reveal how proof and performance create momentum toward world-class operations.

Tune in to uncover the patterns and principles behind the world’s most advanced factories—and see how CESMII’s forthcoming Smart Manufacturing Playbook connects these lessons to the journey toward Lighthouse-level performance.

Panelists included:

Biswaranjan Sen, Global Chief Product Supply Chain Officer, Unilever
Anthony Loy, Vice President, Industrial Digital Transformation Consulting, Schneider Electric
Zongchang Liu, Vice President & Chief Data Officer, Foxconn Industrial Internet
Jackie Jung, Vice President, Global Operations Strategy, Western Digital
Bart Talloen, Executive Fellow, World Economic Forum

Tune in on Apple, Spotify or YouTube for cross‑sector patterns that illuminate the journey from pilot plant to global benchmark.

Watch Now

Top 5 Takeaways

The Path to a Smart Manufacturing Future

CESMII’s Conrad Leiva recently presented to Florida manufacturers on The Path
to a Smart Manufacturing Future, exploring how to drive transformation through practical steps and a new way of thinking. Key topics included:

The Drivers for Smart Manufacturing
A New Smart Manufacturing Mindset
The Foundational Building Blocks
Taking the Right Steps

Watch Recording

Discover CESMII’s New Manufacturing Information Modeling Course

We’re excited to invite you to express your interest in CESMII’s upcoming Manufacturing Information Modeling Course. Whether you’d like to join our free, one-day Beta session to provide feedback, or simply stay informed about future course updates, we’d love to hear from you.

I’m Interested! Keep me updated!

IoT-Enabled Manufacturing Testbeds for Democratizing Smart Manufacturing Training

Auburn Develops IoT Testbeds to Train the Next Generation of Manufacturing Engineers

Project Objective: The goal of this project is to develop a suite of data-enabled Smart Manufacturing (SM) Jupyter Notebook modules using real data and applications from two Internetof-Things (IoT) enabled laboratoryscale SM technology testbed examples.

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Developed six Jupyter Notebook training modules covering the complete manufacturing data science life cycle.

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Delivered Data Analytics and Machine Learning course to 17 Auburn University Chemical Engineering undergraduates.

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Case Study

Manufacturing Scheduling Summit 2025

Keynote: John Dyck discusses the data ubiquity gap, and its impact on interoperability.

Join manufacturing executives, operations leaders, and technology experts for two days of strategic insights, live demos, and peer collaboration focused on real-time, constraint-aware scheduling.

John Dyck, CEO of CESMII, will explore why closing the data ubiquity gap is essential to achieving true interoperability—and how a flexible, connected data foundation can unlock agility, innovation, and measurable outcomes.

Why CESMII Members Should Attend

Hear CESMII’s assessment data ubiquity and interoperability
Learn from real-world APS, MES & ERP scheduling success stories
Network with peers driving digital transformation

Register Now

Focus Study on Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC)

Our sister institute, MxD is inviting the CESMII member organizations to participate in an upcoming focus study (conducted by MxD USA and the University of Michigan) aimed at understanding barriers to achieving Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) 2.0 compliance across the manufacturing ecosystem. This initiative seeks to identify technical, organizational, and structural obstacles faced by companies supporting the Defense Industrial Base (DIB).

Why Participate?

Voice your company’s challenges and concerns directly to help shape national guidance
Contribute to research that will inform DoD-aligned support programs and certification pathways
Gain early access to study findings and benchmark against peer organizations

How to Get Involved?

If your organization supports the DIB and is navigating CMMC 2.0 requirements, your insights are invaluable. Please complete an online survey HERE or contact Michael Howard (michael.howard@mxdusa.org) at MxD for coordination, or if you would also like to participate to a 45-minute focus group. Let your experiences help guide meaningful change in cybersecurity compliance for the manufacturing sector.

Take Survey

CESMII at PROVEIT! Conference 2026

Industry 4.0. Digital Transformation. Unified Namespace. Buzzwords? At PROVEIT! 2026, the hype ends and the proof begins. This one-of-a-kind event brings 50 vendors together in one digital ecosystem, each proving their solution in real time.

Find CESMII’s booth right next to the PROVEIT! team, where we’ll showcase how Smart Manufacturing Profiles (SM Profiles) enable true interoperability—every vendor on the floor will be consuming them.

Don’t miss Thursday’s keynote with John Dyck and Jonathan Wise, as they explore how CESMII is turning vision into verified results.

With 1,500+ attendees, 250 vendors, and 76% end-users, PROVEIT! 2026 is where Industry 4.0 gets real.

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CESMII Smart Manufacturing Roadshow Series

This nationwide event series brings CESMII representatives to cities across the country, connecting with small and medium-sized manufacturers (SMMs), Manufacturing Extension Partnerships (MEPs), and the broader manufacturing ecosystem. Our team is excited to share the latest advancements in Smart Manufacturing technologies, explore real-world applications, and discuss how these innovations can drive efficiency, sustainability, and competitiveness.

Thursday, December 11

New Kensington, PA

Learn More

Tuesday, January 13

Kansas City, KS

Learn More

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 here in the US through advanced sensing, analytics, modeling, control and platforms. CESMII is one of 18 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.

Disclaimer

As many of you may be aware from recent news, UCLA and the Federal Government are currently addressing matters related to federally funded awards. Accordingly, this communication and its contents are not endorsed, supported, or funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

October 2025 Newsletter

The Path to a Smart Manufacturing Future

Discover CESMII’s New Manufacturing Information Modeling Course

IoT-Enabled Manufacturing Testbeds for Democratizing Smart Manufacturing Training

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17

CESMII at PROVEIT! Conference 2026

CESMII Smart Manufacturing Roadshow Series

Thursday, December 11

New Kensington, PA

Tuesday, January 13

Kansas City, KS

About CESMII

Disclaimer

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