Ford Otosan's Yeniköy Plant Joins Global Lighthouse Network

Ford Otosan gains second Global Lighthouse Network accreditation with Yeniköy Plant, reinforcing Industry 4.0 leadership

Following Gölcük Plant's inclusion in 2019, Ford Otosan has now secured a second prestigious World Economic Forum Global Lighthouse Network accreditation with its Yeniköy Plant. Redesigned with the vision of becoming a "factory of the future," Yeniköy Plant achieved this recognition just two years after launch, demonstrating Ford Otosan's digital transformation progress on a global scale.

As the automotive industry undergoes unprecedented transformation, increasing product variety and supply chain vulnerabilities are pushing manufacturers toward more efficient, flexible and resilient production models. Since 2015, Ford Otosan has led this transformation by converting production processes into data and artificial intelligence-driven systems, maintaining its position as a pioneer in this shift.

Yeniköy Plant, which came online after redesign in November 2023, has been accepted into the Global Lighthouse Network platform, which brings together the world's most advanced manufacturing facilities in Industry 4.0. With this achievement, Ford Otosan became the first manufacturing company from Turkey to have two facilities on this platform and ranks among the select global companies with multiple sites in the network. The company is also the only manufacturing organization within Ford Motor Company to be included in the Global Lighthouse Network.

Güven Özyurt: "Strengthening our game-changing position in digital transformation"
Güven Özyurt commented on the achievement:

"At Ford Otosan, we are proud to be represented on this prestigious platform not only with our Gölcük Plant, which joined the Global Lighthouse Network in 2019, but now also with Yeniköy Plant. Our digital transformation journey, which began in 2015, has become an integral part of systems that determine what, when and how we produce.

Thanks to our flexible manufacturing setup at Yeniköy Plant, which enables internal combustion, hybrid and electric engines to be produced on the same line, we can manage high product variety with data intelligence and plan for the future with learning and resilient production models. Achieving this recognition within just two years of the plant's rebuild is a major success for our teams.

As the only automotive manufacturer from Turkey on this platform, having two factories in the same network as the world's most prestigious manufacturing facilities is a source of pride for both our company and our country."

Yeniköy Plant designed as "Factory of the Future"
Yeniköy Plant has been equipped with advanced technologies including intelligent manufacturing management platforms, artificial intelligence-based predictive maintenance systems, GenAI-supported quality platforms and AI-powered energy management. The facility operates with a closed-loop production model managed end-to-end through real-time data flow and advanced data analytics.

Advanced robotic systems, machine vision technologies and digital twin applications elevate operational efficiency to the highest levels, while production planning is executed through real-time data analysis. AI-enabled optimization systems increase capacity utilization while reducing wait times.

Yeniköy Plant currently produces more than 1,000 different versions of the Ford Transit Custom for over 90 export markets. The flexible manufacturing infrastructure established enables electric and internal combustion vehicles to be produced on the same production line.

Ford Otosan continues to successfully manage a 12-fold increase in product variety while doubling production volume, thanks to more than 60 technological solutions developed by its own engineers.