45 of 60 Factories: Oman's Smart Manufacturing Push Hits 75%

Oman's factories are getting a formal, data-backed report card on how ready they are for automation, connected production lines and AI-driven operations, and the latest numbers show real momentum. On August 26, 2026, Oman's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MoCIIP) confirmed that 45 of a targeted 60 factories have now completed assessment under the global Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI), a 75 percent completion rate, according to Oman Observer and Times of Oman.

📋 Key Takeaways

• 45 of 60 targeted Omani factories have been assessed under the Smart Industry Readiness Index (SIRI), which scores automation, connectivity, AI-driven intelligence, workforce readiness and supply-chain digitalization.
• The Smart Production Factories Programme, run by MoCIIP, launched in 2024 with 20 factories and expanded to 60 in its second phase, targeting completion through 2026.
• A parallel "Kafa'a" lean manufacturing programme has trained 13 Omani practitioners across a first cohort of 9 factories, with projects projected to save roughly RO 360,000 per factory annually.
• The "Made in Oman" digital registration platform has logged 7,307 products since 2024, part of the same industrial digitalization push.
• Oman's manufacturing sector contributed RO 3.7 billion to GDP by the end of 2025 and RO 869 million in the first quarter of 2026 alone, en route to a RO 10.702 billion target by 2040 under Industrial Strategy 2040.

🏭 What SIRI Actually Measures

The Smart Industry Readiness Index is not a marketing badge. It is a structured diagnostic, built around 16 dimensions across three pillars, that scores a factory's process, technology and organisational readiness for Fourth Industrial Revolution adoption, covering automation levels, connectivity, real-time intelligence, workforce skills, governance, supply-chain integration and product lifecycle management, as Oman Observer reported.

Each participating factory receives a detailed transformation report identifying specific gaps and a roadmap toward higher digital maturity. According to the ministry's official announcement of the programme's second phase in late 2025, MoCIIP partnered with the Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting and the International Centre for Industrial Transformation to run field assessments across governorates, following an initial cohort of 20 factories completed under Phase 1, as detailed on the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion's own portal.

Eng Khalid bin Salim Al Qasabi, Director General of Industry at the ministry, said manufacturers are increasingly adopting "automation, interconnected production lines, artificial intelligence, data analytics, predictive maintenance and advanced supply-chain management," according to Times of Oman.

💰 The Numbers Behind the Push

The digitalization drive sits inside a broader set of figures the ministry released alongside the SIRI update. Oman's manufacturing sector contributed roughly RO 3.7 billion to GDP by the end of 2025, followed by RO 869 million in the first quarter of 2026, as the sector works toward Industrial Strategy 2040 targets of RO 5.44 billion by 2030 and RO 10.702 billion by 2040, per The Arabian Stories' report on the same ministry data.

Non-oil merchandise exports reached RO 2.739 billion in May 2026 alone, up 1.5 percent year on year, while re-exports topped RO 1 billion, a jump of 64.4 percent, according to the same ministry figures cited by Times of Oman. Industrial employment stood at 240,226 workers by the end of 2025, with a 2030 target of around 273,000.

Undersecretary Eng Ghalib bin Said Al Maamari added that the industrial strategy is targeting an investment mix of 54 percent local private-sector capital and 34 percent foreign investment, underscoring that the digitalization push is meant to attract capital as much as improve productivity.

⚙️ Lean Manufacturing and Digital Registration

Beyond the SIRI assessments, MoCIIP's "Kafa'a" lean manufacturing programme has moved a first cohort of 9 factories through process-improvement projects lasting three to six months, training 13 Omani practitioners along the way. Each participating factory is projected to save around RO 360,000 a year through reduced waste, lower electricity and raw-material use, and re-engineered production processes, according to Oman Observer.

The ministry also reported that its "Made in Oman" digital platform, which registers locally manufactured products for procurement and market visibility, has logged 7,307 products since 2024 through June 2026. Together, the SIRI assessments, Kafa'a savings programme and Made in Oman registry form a single digital backbone the ministry is using to track and accelerate factory-level transformation, rather than three disconnected initiatives.

🔍 Why It's Different From the Last SIRI Announcement

Oman first announced the second phase of the Smart Production Factories Programme, expanding from 20 to 60 factories, back in late 2025. What is new in this week's ministry data is the completion figure: 45 of the 60 factories, or 75 percent, have now actually finished their SIRI assessments, moving the programme from a stated target to a measurable, near-complete rollout. The ministry's next stated goal is building a fully Omani team of certified SIRI assessors so the country no longer needs to rely solely on international partners to run future rounds.

That kind of measured, government-verified progress complements other recent moves inside Oman's industrial and enterprise technology stack, including the AI talent platform Otech launched with Omani startup Remedy to help employers find skilled digital workers, a gap the ministry's own SIRI reports are likely to widen as more factories digitalize.

🇴🇲 Why This Matters for Oman

Smart-factory readiness scores are unglamorous compared to a new AI zone or a headline-grabbing funding round, but they are one of the clearest signals of whether Vision 2040's industrial diversification goals are translating into shop-floor reality. A factory that scores well on SIRI is, by definition, one that has adopted connected sensors, data analytics and often AI-assisted predictive maintenance, exactly the kind of infrastructure Oman needs if it wants non-oil manufacturing to carry a larger share of GDP and exports. With 75 percent of the second-phase target already assessed and a lean-manufacturing programme already generating measurable savings, the ministry has real evidence to point to rather than just a roadmap, and that evidence base is what investors, lenders and workforce planners will use to judge whether Oman's industrial digitalization push is on schedule for its 2030 and 2040 targets.