SMS Group X-Pact Digital Hub Targets Autonomous Metal Production as AI Adoption Spreads Across Wire and Tube Sector
SHERIDAN, WYOMING - April 13, 2026 - SMS Group has positioned its X-Pact Digital Hub as a foundational platform for autonomous production in the metals industry, consolidating more than 300 industrial software applications and third-party tools within a single scalable ecosystem. The announcement coincides with mounting AI adoption across wire, tube, cable, and plant manufacturing, as producers confront high energy costs, skilled labor shortages, and intensifying sustainability requirements. TRUMPF has separately outlined a company-wide AI strategy spanning sales, production, software development, and human resources, with its Head of AI confirming a growing pipeline of operational use cases. Against a backdrop in which nearly half of German manufacturing companies are already deploying AI, suppliers and processors are accelerating investments in digitization and intelligent automation as a direct competitive response.