Hitachi announced that Hitachi Vantara’s storage manufacturing facility in Norman, Oklahoma, United States, has been selected by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as one of its Lighthouse facilities.

The recognition is awarded to the world’s most advanced factories leading the adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies, including artificial intelligence and robotics.

The Norman facility is the second Hitachi Group site to receive the recognition, following Hitachi’s Omika Works, which was designated a Lighthouse facility in 2020.

The facility operates as an end-to-end digital manufacturing and supply chain hub, producing advanced data infrastructure that supports AI-driven business transformation. It has deployed AI across its operations.

By applying Agentic AI to global demand forecasting and inventory management, the facility reduced the lead time from order receipt to shipment by 77 per cent and lowered inventory by 50 per cent.

The selection also recognises the facility’s broader initiatives, including the development of a resilient, AI-enabled supply chain capable of responding immediately to demand fluctuations and contributing to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions.

Hitachi plans to incorporate the advanced AI technologies and insights gained through these in-house practices, developed by positioning the company as “Customer Zero”, into the continued advancement of HMAX by Hitachi.

HMAX is a next-generation suite of AI-powered solutions that applies AI to social infrastructure. Hitachi aims to use it to accelerate AI Transformation (AX) across the Hitachi Group and among its customers.

Hitachi will also expand the practices developed at the Norman facility to global production sites, including Hitachi Rail. The company plans to advance AX in the operational technology domain under its One Hitachi approach.

It will pursue a spiral-up model to strengthen HMAX with proven technologies and use cases developed through real-world applications.

Hitachi remains committed to strengthening and delivering HMAX through One Hitachi. By accelerating AX across customer operations in a broad range of industries worldwide, the company aims to support sustainable business growth through improved sustainability, productivity and resilience.